What The Fae?
by MKay Productions
Summary: A collaborative event that takes SVM!Sookie & drops her in TB!verse, while TB!Sookie finds herself dropped in SVM!verse. How did this happen, and will they survive? AU with serious potential for citrus explosions of am Eric/Sookie variety.
1. What The Fae?

**Disclaimer: **Neither Kacy or Meg own any of these characters. We're just rocking their world like it's never been rocked before. Additionally, we have to give props to Ms. Charlaine Harris and the writing staff over at True Blood for providing portions of our dialogue here. It's the price we pay for canon, but the vast majority of the thoughts in between the spoken words are our own. Still, we gotta give credit where credit is due. We're just fans. No need to get legal on our asses.

Oh, and a big thanks to makesmyheadspin's dearest dolly **dracodew17** for her wicked awesome beta skills. She really cleaned this up for us. We owe her Skarsporn. Lots of it. And, before we forget, none of this would be possible with the beautiful **Meadowslark** who allowed us to nurture her plot bunny. Thanks, bb!

* * *

Chapter 1: What the Fae?

_Somewhere in the Fae Realm..._

Claudine raised her hand to knock on Niall's door, but he beckoned her in by name before she got the chance to knock. "Come in, my child."

Claudine opened the door and peeked inside. Niall was seated behind a large desk, looking every bit as regal as he was. His cane leaned against the richly stained wood and his flaxen hair hung past his shoulders. He wore a smile on his face and as Claudine approached him, he rose to hug her.

"How have you fared?" He asked as he held her.

"Very well, Grandfather." Claudine patted his back and he released her.

"That is most excellent to hear. Please, dear, have a seat." Niall gestured behind Claudine.

She turned to see the Ancient Pythoness sitting on the sofa with perfect posture. She jumped slightly, completely surprised to see the ancient vampire sitting there. Something big must be happening if a vampire had been permitted to enter the fae realm.

"Hello." Claudine nodded respectfully, not sure what to call the ancient woman.

"You may call me Pythoness." The ancient woman answered, startling Claudine slightly.

"Child, you are aware the Pythoness is a seer?"

"Yes, Grandfather, I am aware." Claudine looked back and forth between her kin and the figurehead of a race she'd been taught long ago to fear.

"I come here because we must work together to ensure the safety of one of your own. She has a great fate that is to include one of my kind. We must work together to ensure her survival in the days ahead," the Pythoness stated, her voice raspy with age.

"Perhaps we might begin with Claudine giving us a report on all she knows?" Niall proposed, gracefully taking a seat in one of the chairs in front of his desk and motioning for Claudine to sit beside him.

Claudine looked to the Ancient Pythoness and started her tale from the beginning, chronicling the troubles Sookie had been having since coming into contact with vampires, namely Bill Compton. When she came to the most recent events, Claudine confessed to having had the opportunity to meet with Bill personally after he ingested so much of Sookie's blood that it was possible to summon him to the fae realm in his daytime stupor.

"Mr. Compton insists he is not at fault for nearly draining our kin. He blames his bloodlust for her near death, which is completely unacceptable. He told me he wishes to protect her, but there is something about him I do not trust. I have had the opportunity to watch him, as well as Sookie, and I know for a fact he has lied to her on many occasions for his own personal gain. I'm not sure of his reasons for doing such things, and he will not discuss the matter. I worry that given the troubles Mr. Northman is currently having with your vampire, Russell Edgington, our dear Sookie is liable to do something that will get her killed. Her death—should it be at the hands of the Fanged—would lead to a war among our two kinds. For the safety of all concerned, I feel it would be best to let the magicks work here," Claudine concluded with an air of finality and looked to Niall for his input.

"You have done well, child." Niall put his hand on Claudine's knee. "Pythoness, we have no desire to go to war with your kind. We respect our Sookie's role in your vampire's future. Whether he knows it yet or not, he loves her a great deal. It is our suspicion it is only a matter of time before our Sookie comes to feel the same. While it is very rare for a vampire to bond to a human in any capacity, it is even rarer still for one to bond emotionally, and to someone with fairy blood is extraordinarily rare. We believe your vampire is a strong match for our Sookie."

"I have seen a time in which my vampire will be in need of assistance. It is in this time that your Sookie will come to see him in a different light. There are a great many resources available to my vampire. However, he will be stricken in such a way that he will be virtually unaware of these resources. His best chance for survival is your Sookie. Are you quite sure your magicks are strong enough to ensure the survival of them both?" The Ancient Pythoness looked back and forth from Claudine to Niall.

Niall's face held its gentle smile, a reassuring confidence in his eyes. "We have magicks at our disposal we haven't dared tap into for quite some time as there hasn't been a need for them. Be assured we will see this through. It will benefit us both."

"Then I believe we have a deal, Prince Brigant?" The Pythoness slowly got to her feet, putting a great deal of pressure on the old walking stick she held onto with her gnarled hand.

Claudine looked back and forth between her Grandfather and the Ancient One, trying to deduce what sort of trade they were making. Surely there had to be a great deal of something changing hands, and she doubted it was as simple as someone signing a check. Besides, Niall certainly wasn't lacking for money, nor would he endanger the life of his kin for currency.

"Yes, Ancient Lady, we have a deal." Niall nodded and a scroll appeared out of nowhere.

Claudine watched as her grandfather and the Ancient One put their sacred symbols onto the scroll. A glittering light rose from each of the 'signatures' and blended together with a swirl over the scroll. A second copy of the scroll was produced and rolled itself into the Ancient One's hand.

"Be well, fairy." The Pythoness nodded to Niall and then Claudine.

"And you, Ancient Lady." The fairies chorused in return.

Then with a pop, the Ancient Pythoness was expelled to her own realm. Claudine wasn't quite sure what happened, but she was about to find out.

"Come, child, there is work to be done." Niall led Claudine from his office with a warm hand on the small of her back.

* * *

_**SVM!Sookie**_

One minute, I was slinking against a wall in Josephine's, and the next, I was chained by the neck in a dark room. As if that wasn't weird enough, I was screaming for Eric. But why? Where was I, and how had I gotten there? Was I expecting Eric to rescue me, or was he the reason I was chained up in the first place? Maybe I'm dreaming, or perhaps I'm dead. Ending up dead would be just my luck, now wouldn't it?

Eric _has_ threatened to torture me before, maybe that's what's going on here. When I looked down at my body there were no cuts or bruises anywhere. I was healthy as ever but I was dressed in a Bon Temps Football t-shirt with dark washed denim shorts instead of my pretty boutique dress the color of expensive champagne. My hair was no longer ornately styled but instead was pulled up in a ponytail with a mussed underside.

I checked my face to make sure I wasn't bleeding or swollen, but I seemed to be fine. My lips were a bit sore, though I couldn't place a reason for it. I was being held captive, but was it against my will? It had to be. No way would I have volunteered for someone to slap a metal cuff around my neck and leave me in a damp, dark room. Who was holding me? I took a few deep breaths and tried to make sense of things. Obviously, if someone had me chained by my throat, I was considered a flight risk. They were damn right about that. I figured I could keep on screaming for Eric, but it probably wouldn't do me much good.

I ran through my most recent memories in hopes of an answer springing to mind. I remembered being in Josephine's, Club Dead, whatever you want to call it. I was having drinks with Russell Edgington, Talbot, Tara, Franklin Mott and Alcide. Tara and I did that routine we did for the talent show in high school that probably could have gotten us suspended. It definitely would have gotten us jobs at Hooligan's if they catered to the sort of clientele we would appeal to with that sort of thing. I remembered the feeling of Tara's hands on my hips, bumping and grinding along with me to "Love is a Battlefield." I remembered the rising lust in the bar that only got higher and higher with every sway of our hips or shimmy of our chests.

I remembered the nasty comment Alcide made out of jealousy. Bill! Oh my stars! If I was there-wherever _there_ was-where was Bill? I was so close to finding him. No, no, one thing at a time, I told myself. I wanted to find Bill, but this sudden change of locales without any recollection of how it happened was a much bigger problem, and one I might have had a snowball's chance in hell of solving. Where the hell was I?

I shook myself back into the proper train of thought and picked up where I'd left off in my memories. Tara got Alcide's attention by asking about his business. I started looking around. The crowds parted and there was Eric. I hadn't even known he was there. He was incognito in a suit and a pair of glasses that made him look like the sexiest nerd I'd ever seen. The look he gave me had helped to ease my foul mood just a little bit. Unlike Alcide, Eric had been amused by the little display Tara and I had put on for everyone. He didn't go and have a fit or try to make me feel bad for having a little fun for a change.

But it wasn't just amusement I saw in Eric's eyes. There was heat. Eric clearly wanted an encore or maybe his own private showing. Eric... He was the last thing I remembered seeing clearly before I heard someone thinking about being a martyr. Then there were stakes. I remembered hearing someone mention a stake. Oh, sweet Jesus, what if someone was staked?

Eric. Could he be finally dead? Was I dead? Tears welled up in my eyes. Whether they were for Bill, who was still missing, Eric, who may have met the true death, or the messed up situation I was in, I didn't know. I let them fall silently while I tried to see if there were any clues as to where I was. I wiped my eyes and cheeks before wiping my hands on my shorts. What did it mean that I was screaming Eric's name? That had to mean something.

I made the mistake of moving the wrong way and the metal collar around my neck dug into my skin. The room was very dimly lit and smelled of cleaning supplies. It was the cleanest-and first-dungeon I'd ever been in. No blood on the walls or floors, and no weapons were on display to indicate it was a den for torture. My only clue was a staircase that I assumed led to a doorway into the rest of the establishment where I was being kept.

A basement? Was I in someone's basement? Maybe Russell Edgington found out what my mission was. But why would he dress me in a Bon Temps t-shirt like I was just hanging out at my brother's waiting for a game to start? And that didn't explain why I was screaming for Eric. No one was meant to know I had any connection to Eric outside of Alcide. I excluded the Russell Edgington theory almost immediately. I wasn't in this basement/dungeon because of him.

The more I tried to make sense of my situation, the less sense it made.

I realized a while later that I could move the wheel I was chained to, so I started walking in circles. It was better than sitting on the damp cement floor. I don't know how many laps I took before I started to feel parched. I didn't want to waste my voice on screaming. My throat was dry enough. Besides, I was sure no one was coming to check on me. Maybe I was trapped in some sort of purgatory. I snickered at the idea of what Steve Newlin would think if I were dead. I was a sinner, of course, having had sex with a vampire. Maybe this was God's punishment for what I'd done. I shook those thoughts from my mind. It was hardly the time to berate myself for not being as good a Christian as I should have been.

I leaned against the pole I was chained to, not quite ready to sit down yet. I started humming Katy Perry's latest and tapped my toes to the beat in my head while I tried to figure out if there was a way to escape. I needed a plan. If I knew who had taken me against my will, that would help me out big time.

I ran through several theories in my mind as to why I'd been taken. I considered it had something to do with Bill and that damn database I was supposed to be protecting, but that didn't seem right. I considered the possibility that a Fellowship member had spotted me in Jackson, but I figured the chances of me being transported all the way to Dallas without noticing it were slim to none.

Dear Lord, how had my life come to this? Up until a few months ago I was just a quirky barmaid everyone thought was a little crazy. People were content to leave me be, and for the most part, I was content to do the same. Ever since I got mixed up with Bill, my life has been one bump on the head after another . People were fighting each other to get to me. How did that happen?

My mind drifted back to the night when I'd thought Bill was in bed with me. I'd thought all of my problems had been solved. Bill was back and I didn't have to worry anymore. Yes, we had problems in our relationship that needed to be worked out, but I was willing to make the effort. Of course, that was just before I found out Bill had left me for another woman. Then that sneaky SOB Eric had let himself into my house, _again_, and upped the ante by snuggling with me in my own bed.

Now, there's no denying Eric is a good looking man. I could try to, but ever since the high-handed jerk tricked me into drinking his blood in Dallas, I don't have the ability to keep a secret from him. Yes, it was true that I'd felt something when we were at that orgy, but I couldn't go there with Eric, even though my lady business started a chorus of "Hallelujah' every time I got near him. I trusted him because I had no reason not to so far. In spite of all his badass talk, he'd never once let me down; he'd always shown up when I needed him to-and more than a few times when I didn't think I did.

Finally, just when my disability might come in handy, it was useless to me. Or was it? I marveled at how it had taken me so long to remember I could use my disability to garner information. Surely there had to be some sort of information I could use, even if it was just counting the number of dark vampire voids I knew were brains. Knowing what I was up against would be a big hash mark in the pro column for ole Sookie.

I sat down Indian style and closed my eyes. I took a few deep breaths to concentrate. If I could reach out far enough with my mind, I might be able to tell where I was, or who was responsible for taking me. I got myself centered and slowly started to lower my shields a little at a time. I encountered one vampire brain, then a second. Finally, I found a human who was difficult to re- oh my God! A woman. I was seeing into the mind of a woman. A woman who'd had a lot of sex with a vampire who looked just like Eric if he made a trip to Cary Grant's barber. And they'd done it right where I was sitting.

"OhmyGodew!" I sprang up, which was a bad idea on account of the medieval-chic accessory around my neck. After nearly snapping my own neck, I moved the wheel as far from that spot as I could.

I couldn't make out the woman's thoughts since they weren't in English, but I knew she was angry and thinking of Eric. Although, from all I could gather from the images in her brain, she'd certainly enjoyed the sex. I could practically feel the way he had pounded into her, her memory was so vivid. The sex had gone on and on and on until she had passed out from exhaustion. Suddenly, her mind changed to images of money and a posh life, but they were tinted with red. Yes, this woman was _very_ angry.

Not that I'd assumed Eric was living like a monk and pining away for me, but I'd had no idea he was- wait. Wait just a minute! The Eric in that woman's mind was Eric, but he wasn't _my_ Eric. Not that I ever thought of Eric as mine.

I reached out a little farther, deciding I'd gotten about all I could from the jilted woman upstairs. I was just pushing outside of the building when the door at the top of the stairs flew open. A pair of long legs covered in perfectly tailored dress pants came down the steps. Long, masculine arms came into view. Even from where I was standing I could see the obvious definition of an amazing chest and stomach. The shoulders weren't hard to look at either. Finally came the head, and I was starting to feel like I had fallen down the rabbit hole.

Eric, not my Eric, but Eric all the same.

What. The. Hell.

"Have you calmed down now?" Eric sounded like Eric.

His hair was different, and _my_ Eric was more of a jeans and t-shirt sort of guy—when he wasn't clad in leather while on display for the throngs of fangbangers flocking to Fangtasia to catch a glimpse of him. He remained at the foot of the steps, my answer clearly the deciding factor of whether or not he was going to turn around and leave me there a while longer.

"You're Eric?" I wasn't playing dumb, exactly, but his reaction told me he thought I was.

"You know who I am. I don't recall dropping you on your head, and the collar isn't tight enough to cut off your oxygen supply." Eric looked bored with me.

"But you don't understand. I was-"

"I don't have time for games, Miss Stackhouse."

I scoffed and said, "Well you better make time to explain this to me, buster. Where am I? Why am I locked up? Who locked me up? Why aren't you getting this _thing_ off my neck?" I rattled the chain.

Not Eric looked amused, and even lifted the corner of his mouth for just a second before remembering himself. "You're in Fangtasia's basement. You're locked up because you're going to help me lure Russell Edgington here so I can kill him. _I_ locked you up and I'm not releasing you because you can't be trusted to stay out of harm's way. I believe I warned you about behaving like werewolf bait once already."

"Werewolf bait?" I glared at him with wide eyes. "If I remember right, those werewolves came looking for _me_, not the other way around! And _you're_ the one who sent me to Jackson with Alcide to find Bill so _you_ wouldn't end up dead for letting Bill get kidnapped in your area. So, how about _you_ tell _me _why I'm going to help you kill Russell Edgington when he's never been anything but polite and courteous to me."

At vampire speed, Eric was standing right in front of me so I was eye level with his pecs. Eric's eyes were steely as he stared down on me. "Are you a witch?" He demanded, is eyes boring into mine. "Your eyes are blue. They were brown before."

"What? No! I'm a telepath and a waitress. You know that. And I have _never in my life_ had brown eyes. You might want to get your vision checked."

"I assure you my sight is quite excellent, as is my memory. Your eyes were brown until now, which leads me to believe you are much more than just the telepathic waitress you claim to be." Eric dipped down and inhaled my scent but pulled back sharply. "You smell different." Then he was right back at sniffing me. He groaned and pulled me closer to him. "So much sweeter." His voice staggered as he rubbed against me.

"Eric, stop!" I pushed at him but he only loosened his hold when I told him he was hurting me. "Listen, if you take this thing off my neck, I promise not to run. There's something really weird going on and I need your help to figure it out. I don't belong here."

Eric chuckled and pressed his pelvis against me. He was clearly aroused by my scent and had absolutely no problem sharing that information with me, which was something _my_ Eric wouldn't have any trouble doing either. I was able to figure out the woman's head I'd been in wasn't exaggerating the size of Eric's endowments. Jesus Christ, shepherd of Judea. He pulled back and tucked some of my hair behind my ear.

"That's not going to happen, Sookie. I'm afraid you left me no choice." There was that heat in his eyes I'd seen at Josephine's. "Although, I will say I'm not at all opposed to picking up where we left off in my office before we were so rudely interrupted earlier."

I backed away from him as much as I could. "What are you talking about?"

Eric reached up and gently pulled the elastic from my hair, leaving my hair to fall down around my shoulders. "You. Me. My last first kiss."

Well, well, wasn't that cryptic? "I never kissed you in your office." I realized a moment too late the error of my choice of words.

"Oh, but you did." He argued, his body getting closer to mine.

"No, I didn't. The last time I was in your office was after I was attacked by Callisto."

Eric froze, his eyes searching mine for a moment before standing up straight with his fangs bared. "Callisto?"

"Yes, the maenad. I was poisoned. You, Bill, Pam and Chow sucked the poison from my back."

Eric smirked and said, "Not for lack of trying, but Bill would never allow me to feed on you."

"Well _Bill_ doesn't call the shots." I snapped right back.

I was worried about Bill, but I was plenty pissed off at him, too. He'd left me one hell of a mess, and it was all lies. He'd left me for another woman, a former lover. He was off somewhere having an affair, and I was left to go find him in order to save Eric's skin. I certainly wasn't Bill Compton's biggest fan at the moment.

"But you _are_ his, aren't you?" Eric's face was blank.

"Geez Louise, what is it with you vampires? _No_, I'm not Bill's. I am _mine_. I don't belong to anyone. I'm not some damned trophy for y'all to compete over."

"Fascinating." Eric said to himself. He lightly brushed his fingers over my forearm like he thought he was talking to an apparition.

"What is your deal, Eric?" He was being stranger than usual.

The Eric I knew was much more of a straight shooter. He could be ominous, but he was also pretty quick with the explanations when I needed them. This Eric didn't quite seem to have a plan that went beyond locking me up in his basement and I didn't even know why he was keeping me. I was determined to get an answer to that question.

"You honestly have no recollection of how you got here?" Eric rubbed his chin.

"No!" I groaned in frustration. I relayed my story to him about where I'd been before I found myself screaming for him just a few feet away. "I have no idea how I got here, Eric, I swear."

"Talbot is dead." Eric revealed to me and I gasped. "Has been for days."

Eric looked as confused as I felt. How had Talbot died? How long had I been locked in the basement at Fangtasia?

"Well, I just had a champagne cocktail with him and he was very much alive."

"I staked him myself." Eric glared at me.

"You staked a _human_?" Staking Long Shadow was one thing, but a human? What an awful way to die.

"Talbot hasn't been human for centuries." Eric revealed, which was a big shock to me.

"None of this makes any sense." I shook my head numbly.

All of a sudden the cuff around my neck came off. I was about to thank Eric for releasing me when he tossed me over his shoulder.

"Where are you taking me?" I tried to maintain a level tone to my voice, but my anger seeped in.

"I've always wanted to know what you taste like, and it seems we have company waiting for us upstairs." Eric's tone was cool as a cucumber.

"Company? And what do you mean about tasting me?"

My questions went unanswered. When Eric set me down on the floor of the bar, I turned around to find Bill bound to a chair with silver, glaring angrily at Eric behind me. Bill looked about as healthy as ever. That smug bastard had cheated on me and he dared give Eric that "Sookie is mine!" look.

Man, did _he_ have another thing coming.

* * *

_**TB!Sookie**_

I couldn't stop pacing after Eric left the office to go speak with Pam. _I kissed Eric Northman. _ I mean, he kissed me first and I tried to push him away, but something clicked inside and I kissed him back. And I'll be damned if it wasn't WAY better than any of the dreams I'd had of him. It had to be my fairy blood he was attracted to, right? He couldn't want ME, not really. But when I looked in his eyes as he told me that he didn't want to die without ever having kissed me-all while telling me goodbye-I melted. I felt like the chick in _Jerry Maguire_ and almost said, "You had me at hello."

I tried to figure out how, or what, I felt about Bill. If I was honest with myself, I would admit that something seemed off with him, even before he was kidnapped by Russell. He was always so secretive, like with him making Jessica. I never would've known about her if Eric and Pam hadn't gotten sick of her and brought her back to Bill. And then, there was the creepy stalker file he had on me. Why on earth would he have those old newspaper clippings, birth records, and my family tree mapped out? He'd said it was to try to figure out what I was because of Eric's "unnatural interest" in me, but something told me he was lying. And Bill had attacked me, almost drained me. I mean, I know he was injured, but I would've died if it weren't for Tara and Alcide coming to my rescue.

I can't believe I had sex with him again. I mean, the sex was great and all, but what in the hell was wrong with me? He had JUST practically killed me a few days earlier and I hop right back on top of him just because he helped save me from a couple of werewolves? _Stupid!_

Eric told me not to trust Bill, but could I trust Eric? He tricked me into taking his blood in Dallas, but again, if I was honest myself, I had to admit that Eric had saved my life more than once when he really didn't have to. I treated him like shit, but he continued to have my back time and again. Even when he was acting like an asshole at Russell's house, I knew deep down that he wouldn't let anyone there hurt me. I could still feel my lips tingling from that kiss and a part of me was relieved that Pam interrupted us while another part of me was pissed that Pam interrupted us!

Before I could contemplate that any further, Eric opened the door and came back in. "Where the hell have you been?" I asked.

"I needed to think."

The nerve of him! "I am not some prisoner you can just lock up anytime you feel like taking off!"

Eric looked at me, and I saw the resolve behind his eyes a split second before he said, "Actually, you are." He scooped me up and threw me over his shoulder as I fought and kicked, trying to grab ahold of something yelling, "Let me go! I knew I shouldn't trust you!"

He just kept walking down into the basement like I weighed nothing and calmly said, "You're right."

I got out one more "LET ME GO!" before he dropped me to the basement floor and secured some medieval metal collar around my neck attached to a chain in the middle of the room and left me there.

"ERRIICC!" I screamed over and over pulling at the metal collar around my neck trying to get free.

What the fuck was WRONG with him? I couldn't believe he was pulling this high-handed bullshit. Actually, I COULD believe it, but still. The last time I was down in this basement, he was fucking that new dancer Yvetta, but me? He brings ME down here and chains me up like a junkyard dog. Stupid vampire.

I continued to scream and pull at the collar and chains, wishing like hell my fairy powers would kick in. I closed my eyes and tried to concentrate on how my body felt when the freaky blue light would come out of my fingertips. I slowed down my breathing and retreated inside of my own mind. The sounds of the bar faded away until the only sound I could hear was my own heartbeat when I suddenly felt my body sway in motion and heard a _'POP!' _

The sounds came rushing in, and I opened my eyes to see that I was no longer clutching the metal collar. Instead I was wrestling some strange man holding a wooden stake. In my confusion, I almost let go of him in shock, but my instincts held on for me. I took a second to glance around to see I was in a bar, but it wasn't Fangtasia. I looked down and saw I wasn't wearing my Bon Temps Football t-shirt and shorts anymore either. It was replaced with a champagne colored dress and black heels. It was while my dumbass was looking at the pretty dress I was wearing that I saw, and felt, the wooden stake go into my side.

I looked up to see the horror in the face of the dark-haired man I'd been wrestling with when a female vamp I'd never seen before hit him twice with her gloved fist, breaking his neck and shattering his skull. My legs were tangled with his so when he went down, I went with him, idly thinking the female vamp was dressed like Mamie Eisenhower.

I landed flat on my back and watched the ceiling fan spinning around while a hawk flew overhead. A wolf came over and licked my face while some brunette started yelling and screaming to call 911. I just continued to lie there, waiting to wake up from this strange ass dream, and my right hand went to where the stake was lodged in my side. I kept thinking that it shouldn't hurt so much in a dream and I felt terribly cold.

The strange brunette kept screaming, and I really wanted to tell her to just shut the fuck up already when she looked down at me and said, "Don't worry, Sookie. We're gonna get you some help."

I looked at her harder to see if I could remember if we'd ever met, but I was pretty certain I'd never seen her before. I could read from her thoughts that she was genuinely scared for me and that put me at ease somewhat, but I had to ask, "Do I know you?"

Her brown eyes got even bigger and she said, "You're kidding right? Oh my God, did you hit your head when you fell?"

I thought about it for a minute before I said, "No, my head's alright. Who are you?"

Tears started streaming down her face when she answered, "Sookie, it's me, Tara."

"Shut the fuck up!" The words tumbled out of my mouth before I even knew I'd thought them. I saw movement on my other side and looked over to see Eric crouched down next to me. When I saw him I immediately felt better and smiled, but he just continued to look concerned while he hovered next to me.

He bent down close to my ear and asked, "Sookie, are you okay?" I continued to grin through the pain and answered, "I'm fine. This is just a weird ass dream."

His forehead creased while he stared down at the stake in my side through the glasses on his face before saying, "Sookie, you're not dreaming. What makes you think that you are?"

I was starting to feel lightheaded from the blood loss and giggled, ending in a hiss because it made my side throb even more, but I felt compelled to answer 'Dream' Eric anyway. "This is obviously a dream," I waved my hands in the air to indicate 'all of it', "because one," I held up one finger, "I'm here and not locked up in the basement at Fangtasia where you left me." I reached over and smacked his leg as hard as I could before continuing, "And 'B'," I held up two fingers, "you're wearing glasses and have long hair. Your hair hasn't been long since Pam had to cut it before we went to Dallas." I nodded at him full of righteousness and ended with, "And lastly, her!" I pointed at 'Dream' Not-Tara saying, "That's not Tara, so when you add all of those things together it equals D-R-E-A-M dream!"

I settled back on the floor content that we'd all be on the same page, now that I spelled it out for them, but I guess that wasn't good enough for 'Dream' Not-Tara.

"Sookie! What are you talking about? We've been best friends since we were little." She looked up at 'Dream' Eric for confirmation, and he looked back down at me like I was crazy.

"Are you saying that this woman," he pointed at Not-Tara, "is not your friend Tara?" I gave him my best _Duh! _face and answered, "Obviously." I mean seriously, Duh!

He just wouldn't give up. "What makes you think that she's not Tara?" He eyed her like she was about to transform into an alien autobot, like Optimus Prime. I really liked that yellow Camaro, Bumblebee. Maybe if I could ever afford to, I'd buy a car like that.

"Sookie?" The sound of Eric's voice pulled me out of my ultimate car reverie, and I looked up to see him looking down at me. Oh yeah. I looked over at Not-Tara and glared at her for good measure before saying, "She's not Tara! She looks NOTHING like Tara!" I looked back at Eric with big eyes and practically shouted, "She's WHITE for God's sake!"

Not-Tara continued to cry while looking at me and begged, "Please Sookie, stop. You're scaring me! I've known you practically my whole life. I knew Gran, I know Jason, we're best friends!" she sobbed.

Not-Tara was really starting to get on my nerves, so I spat out, "Then explain why you're white!" She looked flummoxed so I looked over at 'Dream' Eric and said, "Really, I know you're 'Dream' Eric and all, but you've met Lafayette. You had him chained in your basement for two weeks." I smacked him again when I remembered that and continued, "So you KNOW he's black. How are they cousins and she's white?" I nodded again in a 'take that!' fashion and waited for his response.

"Sookie, I never met your friend Lafayette, and I certainly don't remember you saying he was Tara's cousin. I would've thought you would have brought that up when we went to the orgy."

I rolled my eyes thinking, of course, 'Dream' Eric is just as much of a horn dog as 'Real' Eric. "See? That's how I know this is a dream. Pfft…orgy. As if," I scoffed.

The stake was still stuck in my side, and I was losing a lot of blood for a dream. I looked up to see Not-Tara being dragged away by some old man vamp and thought _Good Riddance! _My temporary relief at her departure was instantly filled with fear the moment Russell Edgington came to stand in the space Not-Tara had just left.

I looked over at 'Dream' Eric to see that he wasn't scared in the least when Russell leaned down and asked him, "Who are you?" Without missing a beat Eric replied, "I'm a friend of Alcide's. He invited me here tonight to meet his new girlfriend. My name is Leif."

I tried to hold in my snicker at the thought of 'Dream' Eric being the Viking Leif Erickson, but when I saw 'Dream' Russell's main squeeze Talbot was a human and no longer a vamp, I burst into another fit of giggles and hisses.

I must have passed out because the next thing I knew, 'Dream' Eric was carrying me up a grand staircase. I looked down to see if I was wearing a dress made from curtains and sighed disappointedly when I saw I was still in the bloody dress with the stake still stuck in me. I looked up at 'Dream' Eric, and realizing I wasn't in as much pain anymore, I said, "I must be getting ready to wake up. My side doesn't hurt as bad."

He looked down at me and said, "The human doctor gave you a big dose of drugs. Now I'm carrying you to a bedroom so you can be healed." I laughed and playfully smacked Eric's arm saying, "Even 'Dream' you thinks sex is the cure for everything."

Eric smiled, but I could see the concern in his eyes before he walked me into a room and placed me on top of a motherfuckin' canopied four-poster! 'Dream' Eric really went all out. I started getting concerned when a bunch of other people began filing into the room, mostly vamps with a few token humans, thinking 'Dream' Eric had another thing coming if he thought we'd have 'dream' sex with an audience. From the way they were all dressed, I was reminded of The Weather Girl's song, 'It's Raining Men'. Since it was a dream I figured it was okay to hum a few bars, so that's what I did as I continued to wait and see where this dream was headed.

I noticed an albino looking vamp that reminded me of Draco Malfoy come up and stand on the side of the bed where the stake was stuck in my body, and Russell came up behind him saying, "Miss Stackhouse, this is Ray Don." I just glared at 'Dream' Russell, still pissed that he sent those weres into my house to kill me.

Russell looked like he had NO idea why I would be glaring at him and looked over at Eric who said, "Sookie, Ray Don is going to heal you." My mind immediately flashed to those televangelists that put their hands on people who then automatically fall to the floor praising Jesus. Good thing I was already lying down, I thought, because I'd already spent enough time on the floor for one night, dream or no dream.

Eric continued, "You know, when we start to feed and our fangs come out, they release a little anticoagulant?"

"Yep." _Humidity is risin', risin'…Barometer's gettin' low, how low girl?_

"And when we are ready to finish feeding, the fangs release a little coagulant and a trace of the, the—"

"Jizz?" Because that's what they ALL do when their done feeding, right?

Eric fought to keep the smile off his face before saying, "Uh no, a trace of the chemical that helps us heal so fast. Ray Don," he gestured towards the albino Malfoy vamp, "has an extra supply of all these chemicals in his body. This is his talent."

Malfoy vamp beamed with pride and Eric continued, "So he will start the process on a volunteer, and when he has fed, he will begin cleaning your wound and healing it."

_According to all sources – what sources now? The streets the place to go, 'cause tonight for the first time – first time, Just about half past ten… _"Huh? Oh, right. Okie dokie, let's get this show on the road."

I watched a thin blond teenage boy walk over to Malfoy who leaned down and gave him a big old kiss. Malfoy was wearing tight vinyl pants, and when I saw how aroused he got, I almost asked him if he had a wand in his pocket or was he just happy to see him.

When they broke from their kiss, the teenager tilted his head to the side and Malfoy bit his neck with both of them moaning and panting. Malfoy pulled back and turned to face me with his bloody mouth, and my euphoria abruptly turned to fear. Eric immediately sat on the bed and pinned my shoulders.

"Look at me," he demanded. "Look at me, Sookie." I felt the bed indent from Malfoy's weight, and the hysteria built in my chest as I felt him wiggling the stake in my side. My eyes strayed from Eric's and he said, "Don't, Sookie! Look at me!"

I couldn't help myself. I looked down and saw Malfoy grab the stake and, "Motherfucker!" I screamed over and over until I didn't have the energy to continue. Eric was holding my hands and my nails were digging into him. I was shocked that a dream could be so painful and thought I'd be better off when I woke up in Eric's dungeon.

"Let go," I heard Eric say. I loosened my grip on his hands and he said, "No, not of me. You can hold on to me as long as you want." His smile made me feel better. "Let go of the pain, Sookie. Let go. You need to drift away."

I couldn't agree more, I thought, and closed my eyes, hoping to wake up from this nightmare.

The next thing I knew, I was awake but only in my dream. I was lying on the big bed wearing nothing more than my bra and panties, and I couldn't miss the fact that Eric was lying in bed with me. He was lying on his side facing me with an arm draped over me and a leg thrown over mine. A leg that wasn't encased in any sort of pants.

His blond hair was mixed in with my own and the strands were almost the same color. I reached over and ran my fingers through it, causing him to come out of his downtime, and he smiled softly at me. I always did love that smile from 'Dream' Eric, so I returned it with one of my own. "I miss your hair being long," I whisper confessed.

His eyebrows furrowed before saying, "You still think you're dreaming?" I only smiled wider and said, "Of course I'm still dreaming, we're in bed together aren't we?"

That made Eric's smile come back as he asked, "Do you dream about us in bed often?"

Since this was still a dream I answered truthfully. "Yes, I do. I like them because you're always so sweet."

Eric made a mock hurt face and asked, "Am I not always sweet?" He leaned forward and buried his face in the crook of my neck, inhaling deeply before adding, "Because you, my sweet Sookie, are always delectable."

I giggled from both the sentiment and the fact that what he was doing was tickling me before he pulled back slightly and asked, "So, what do we normally do in these dreams of yours?"

I reached across and ran my hand up the leg he'd thrown over my body underneath the leg of his boxers, gripping his bare ass underneath and causing Eric's body to tense before saying, "Stuff just like this."

His eyebrows rose up into his hairline, and he shifted his body so he was hovering directly over mine. He lowered his mouth until his lips were a hair's breadth away from mine and asked, "And what about this?" He pressed his lips against mine in the next instant, sweeping his tongue into my mouth and I moaned at the taste of him. It was so much more vivid in this dream than any other I'd had of him before. Maybe it was because I'd just kissed him for real right before I fell asleep. That had to be it because he tasted exactly the same as he did when we kissed in his office.

My hands automatically tangled themselves in his hair, my legs wrapping around his body while I rubbed myself against him. I felt his fangs click down along with the corresponding throb in my panties down below. His mouth left mine to make its way across my neck as his hands roamed all over my body. One slipped into the waistband of my panties with his finger sliding right inside of me, a groan slipped past my lips in approval. His finger and my hips found a mutually fantastic rhythm and I pulled his face back to mine, wanting to taste him again. I was on the precipice of falling over Mount Saint Eric when the window flew open, and Elvis climbed in.

* * *

So there you have the very first chapter of our first joint venture. We posted our two chapters together this time around but if ya'll feel like it's too confusing to have them together in one post, let us know in reviews and we'll post them separately. **Makesmyheadspin** will be writing the SVM!Sookie chapters and **kjwrit** will be writing the TB!Sookie chapters. You'll essentially be getting two stories in one. Pretty nifty, huh? Feel free to show us your gratitude in the form of ASkars pics, as well as reviews. We're looking to post once a week, but have yet to settle on a day. Put us on alert if you haven't already, or follow us on twitter. Our twitter names are the same as our pen names here.

Thanks for reading *foozles*


	2. Friend or Foe  Trust and Blood

Well hello there friends! Kacy and I would like to apologize for being lazy hostesses and not responding to your reviews. Rest assured we have read every single one of your reviews, and we are deeply appreciative of every single one of them. We're blown away that you've received this story so well, and we hope that we don't let you down with the chapters to come. For the time being, we'll continue to post two chapters in one. If it becomes too confusing for you, let us know and we'll start posting them separately. Also, there seemed to be some confusion over whether or not there are two Erics in this story as well. The answer to that is yes. This is basically two stories in one. SVM!Sookie is dealing with TB!Eric, and TB!Sookie is dealing with SVM!Eric. There are two of everything, since these Sookies are each in their own separate worlds. If you watched Buffy, you know a thing or two about alternate dimensions. That's what we we're dealing with here. Make more sense to you now? Good.

Oh, and this chapter is unbeta'd, so any mistakes here are our own.

* * *

Chapter 2: Friend Or Foe / Trust & Blood

_SVM!Sookie- Friend or Foe  
_

"Eric, no! You must stop this." Bill commanded as my body wilted against Eric's.

Weak as I was, I knew it wasn't generally a good idea for a subordinate vampire to mouth off to his sheriff. The pull of Eric's thirst only became more powerful, as if he were punishing Bill through me. Amazingly enough, it felt like Eric was pulling my fluids from somewhere much lower than my neck, and I moaned quietly at the sensation of it. I trembled against him, and his strong hands held me tighter to him. I obviously wasn't the only one turned on by his course of action if the hardness pressed against my back was any indication.

Then I remembered the look in Eric's eyes when he saw me covered in Long Shadow's blood, and I began to squirm.

"Eric, you must stop, or you'll kill her." Bill pleaded on my behalf.

Eric withdrew his fangs from my neck, but didn't seal the sounds. He did, however, drop a kiss on the skin just above the little puncture marks. Even though Bill's bonds were silver, he struggled against them. "She's superb, Bill. No wonder you've fought so hard to keep her all to yourself."

"Eric, have you been holding Bill hostage all this time?" I'd been led to believe Bill was in Jackson. What was he doing in Bon Temps? Why would Eric tell me Bill had run off with Lorena? "Is this about the database?"

"Database?" That got the attention of both vampires. Eric looked confused, while Bill looked guilty.

"How did you-" Bill was cut off by Eric.

"What database?"

Oh, shit. I decided then and there that I had to be having a nightmare. There wasn't any other explanation that made sense. I had to be dreaming all of this.

"I'd like to go back to the basement now." I said, figuring it was my best option. I didn't need for Eric to say it in order for me to know I wasn't going anywhere anytime soon.

"Sookie, no!" Bill struggled against the silver.

"Eric, will you please take me back?"

"You're asking me to lock you up?" Eric was surprised. He wasn't alone.

"I don't suppose going home is an option?" I sighed.

"Sookie is mine, Eric. I will not-"

"Excuse me, Bill Compton, but I _do not_ belong to you! Ever since you started fooling around on me, you lost the right to call me yours." I glared hard at him, and seriously considered slapping him.

"Sookie, I didn't have a choice. I did what I had to do to survive. Lorena means nothing to me." Bill spoke with intensity, and the eyes of a wounded puppy.

"Doesn't change what you did. You lied to me. I don't know if I can forgive you for it. Right now, I don't want to talk about it." I turned to Eric. "Will you please take me back?"

Eric nodded and put one of his hands on the small of my back to lead me. Much to my surprise, Eric didn't take me to the basement. He brought me to his office and closed the door.

"Tell me what I want to know and I won't lock you up if I don't have to." Eric offered me.

"Why would you have to?" I folded my arms over my chest.

"As I've told you, you will help me lure Russell. I can't give you an preferential treatment, although I don't enjoy treating you like a prisoner."

"I'll tell you what you want to know if you'll do the same. With the exception of that stunt you pulled in Dallas, you've always been honest with me. I like that about you." I didn't mind confessing to him since stroking Eric's ego was usually a good way to get whatever it was I wanted.

"So now you can trust me? Just twenty-four hours ago you said you couldn't. What's changed?" Eric leaned against the edge of his desk.

"What? Eric, I haven't seen you for days. The last time we saw each other was at my house when you threatened to torture me to get me to tell you all about the database Bill was working on for the queen. A database _you_ weren't supposed to know about. That was when Pam let is slip that Bill had gone off with Lorena. You told me it was imperative we get Bill back, or we would all be subject to the queen's wrath. There was some sort of mix up at Anubis with the coffins which was how Bill ended up in Russell's custody. The werewolves you accused me of baiting came after me because of Bill, hoping they would get me to spill the beans on him, but Bubba killed them first." I told him all of this, watching his face for cues of recognition. All I got was signs of confusion.

"Who's Bubba?" Eric asked.

"You don't know Bubba?" I arched an eyebrow at him.

"Should I?"

"Since _you_ sent him to me, I would say yes, you should." My words did nothing to relieve the look of confusion on Eric's face. I sighed and said, "Bubba is a vampire who shouldn't have been brought over. The vampire who made him was a fan of Bubba's in his human life, but by the time the vampire got his hands on him, there wasn't much life left. Something went wrong when he was turned."

"And who was Bubba in his human life?"

"Does the term 'King of Rock-N-Roll' mean anything to you?"

"You mean Elv-"

"Yes, he's a vampire, and no, he doesn't like to be reminded of it. That's why we call him Bubba. You know all of this." I shook my head in frustration. This was getting really annoying.

"So why didn't I make good on my threat to torture you?" Eric looked me up and down, I could only assume for wounds.

"You had a couple of reasons. You told me you didn't want to ruin my skin, for starters, and that you intended to see all of it one day." My voice dropped a bit, both in volume and in octave. "You also told me you don't like it when I'm scared of you."

"That is quite true, on both accounts. Regardless of what sort of nonsense Bill may have filled that pretty head of yours with, I _do_ like you a great deal." Eric offered me a small smile.

I inclined my chin just a bit and said, "Yes, you said something similar to that, too." I blushed at what had come after that the last time Eric and I spoke.

"I don't think I would enjoy torturing you like I should. I would prefer we be fucking when I finally see all of that skin." Just like with _my_ Eric, his fangs were down, and there was light in his eyes. "Kissing you once wasn't enough."

Eric came closer to me, and out of pure curiosity, I didn't fight it when he kissed me. It had been a while since I'd kissed Eric. The last time I'd been squeezed into a pair of shorts two sizes smaller, and a tank top that barely covered my breasts. Eric was equally squeezed, but he was wearing a spandex outfit that left nothing to the imagination. I had also been trapped under him on the hood of his Corvette. The experience had been quite the eye opener for me.

This Eric was just as good a kisser, and it wasn't until his lips got to my neck that the fog lifted, and I remembered he'd bitten me without asking for my permission. I shoved at him, but to no avail.

"How could you bite me like that?" My voice faltered, an unexpected sadness filling me. "You didn't have to do that."

"I needed to make a point. I also need to know just how powerful your blood really is."

"A telepath's blood is the same as anyone else's." I looked up into his deep blue eyes and felt my heart flutter.

"But you, my dear, are not just a telepath." Eric's hands tangled in my hair. He angled my head to the side and lowered his lips to my neck. He inhaled deeply, and then gently kissed the wounds he'd left. He lapped at the blood that had pooled near my collarbone before letting his tongue trail up my neck to the puncture wounds. His tongue flicked at them gently, his lips sucking and nipping at the flesh before pulling back.

"All healed." He dropped another kiss on my mouth. I was left dazed and wanting more. "So, what's the big deal about this database?"

"I don't know. Bill never told me exactly what he was doing- only that I should tell no one. Not even you." I took a deep breath. "So, why don't you tell me why you staked Talbot?"

Eric let go of me. He stepped back, and began to pace the length of his office like a caged lion. "Russell Edgington and I have a very long, very complicated history. He took something from me that I loved dearly. By staking Talbot, I was able to repay the favor."

"Isn't it bad for for one vampire to stake another?"

"It's generally frowned upon." Eric agreed.

"So that makes two in six months for you."

"Pardon?"

"First it was Long Shadow, now Talbot."

"I didn't stake Long Shadow." Eric chuckled.

"Of course you did! I saw you do it. He came after me when-"

"I know why he came after you." Eric cut me off. "I remember seeing you covered in his blood." The heat came back to his eyes. "I felt... I was both jealous and disappointed. I wanted you desperately, even covered in the blood of another vampire."

"I thought you were going to... well, anyway, Ginger was there." I remembered the way Eric had come at me with every intention of feeding on me and fucking me into oblivion. It was a prospect that had both intrigued me, and scared me silly.

I was still intrigued by the idea of having sex with Eric- what woman in her right mind wouldn't be- but I had no intention of letting it happen as a result of blood lust. If I were ever to decide that I wanted to have sex with Eric, I didn't want to be just a body to him. If he was lost to blood lust, that's exactly what I would be. No thanks. I shook myself mentally when I realized what thoughts had just gone through my head. I'd have to process them later since I had enough to worry about at the moment.

"What did Russell take from you, Eric?"

Eric got this far off look in his eyes, like he was falling down the rabbit hole. "My family. He slaughtered them all. My mother and my infant sister were dead by the time I got to them. My father was chieftain of our village, and an expert swordsman. He fought vigilantly, but he was overcome. He bled to death right in front of me. My family was murdered by werewolves at Russell's command. He took my father's crown as a trophy."

That was more than Eric had ever shared about himself in all the months combined that I'd known him, and I found myself wanting to know more. Eric certainly had a lot of living under his belt.

"I'm sorry, Eric."

"It wasn't until I went to see Russell in our search for Bill that I knew he was the one who had ordered the slaughter of my family. He had my father's crown on display in a room full of other things he'd collected over his long life. For a thousand years he has looked on that crown as a possession, or maybe a badge of honor for the blood ruthlessly shed to obtain it. For one thousand years I have been searching for him- for vengeance.

"But now Russell represents so much more than a vendetta. He is a threat to vampires everywhere. The whole point of vampires coming out was so we wouldn't have to hide our existence anymore. We can live among humans without seeing them strictly as a source of food, thanks to True Blood. The problem is, Russell is three times my age, and doesn't see much use to humans. He sees them as lesser beings- cattle, even. To him, they should be herded and led to slaughter, and he feels _he_ is the vampire to lead us all into this new era. I was witness to the murder of our magister- the vampire equivalent of a supreme court judge- and I cannot prove it was Russell who committed the offense.

"My allegations alone are treasonous. I could be put to final death for them. Instead, the Authority has decided I should be granted permission to seek my revenge against Russell without facing sanction for it, but it's an off the books operation. As much as I'd like to, I cannot do this alone." Eric told me all of this as he continued to pace.

"So you're acting as an assassin on this?" I wanted to be clear.

"Something like that, yes."

"Okay, but where do I come in? Why does Russell want me?"

"Because he knows what you are, thanks to Bill's file."

"Bill's file?" What the hell was he talking about?

"The file Bill was keeping on you and your family."

"He what?" I about exploded. "What was in this file?"

"I'm not entirely sure. I never saw it personally. I only heard Franklin discussing it with Russell."

"So what is it about me that Russell wants to get this hands on? Is it because I'm a telepath? This damn disability of mine has been nothing but trouble. Even when I can use it for good, it's bad news."

"While that alone is enough to make you desirable to our kind, you are much more than just a telepath."

This was news to me. "What am I?"

Eric looked at me strangely. "You told me you knew."

"But I don't! Eric, _none_ of this makes any sense to me. It's like I'm in another world." I groaned with frustration, which only elevated when a look of disbelief crossed Eric's face. "Okay, like if you lived in the same place for most of your life, but then you moved away for while. When you come back, the street names are the same, but the buildings and businesses have changed. Like what used to be a gas station is now a church. That's how it feels right now."

"But you know me. You know Bill."

"Yes, and if you brought Pam in here, I'd probably know her, too."

"You aren't making much sense."

"Well, I'm sorry if I'm confusing you, Eric, but I'm a little short on answers myself right now."

"What about your family?"

"What about it? My parents died in a flash flood when I was young. My Gran raised Jason and me. She was murdered a few months ago by that serial killer I was trying to identify the night I met you. Jason goes from woman to woman like he's changing radio stations... I don't have anyone else."

"What about Hadley?" He asked, his eyes narrowing.

"Hadley?" My eyes widened. I hadn't thought of her much in the last few months. "I think she's dead. I haven't seen, or heard from her since she borrowed a bunch of money from Gran that was supposedly for rehab. How do _you_ know about her?"

"She delivered a message to you about Russell." Eric told me.

"She did?" News to me. "When?"

"Just a few days ago."

"What was the message?"

"I told her to tell you that Russell was coming for you, and not to trust Bill. Russell was quite upset that you not only managed to escape, but that you also staked a vampire on his grounds. Of course, you didn't listen."

"I did no such thing!" I argued vehemently. "I have been witness to the staking of exactly one vampire, and _you_ did it."

"Sookie, I didn't stake Long Shadow. I wanted to, but it wasn't me."

"Then who staked him?" I asked in a tone dripping with sarcasm.

"Bill."

"No."

"Yes."

"Bill couldn't do something like that." I shook my head defiantly.

Actually, I wasn't so sure Bill couldn't, so much as he _wouldn't_ do something like that.

"I can prove it to you." Eric grabbed my arm and pulled me out of his office. He dragged me into the main area of the bar where Bill was still bound with silver.

"Sookie!" Bill began to struggle against his bonds again.

"Bill, who was responsible for Long Shadow meeting the true death?" Eric asked without letting me go.

"You both know." Bill glared at Eric.

"Answer my question, Bill. I'm in no mood for your insolence." Eric sounded as annoyed as I'd ever heard him.

"I staked him, but-"

"No!" I shook my head. I looked back and forth with wide eyes. "No, it was Eric."

"Like you said, Sookie, what was a gas station is now a church."

"Sookie, what is going on?" Bill asked me.

I had no idea. All I wanted was to go home. I wanted my own bed. I wanted the quiet chirping of the crickets in the woods. Hell, even being back at Josephine's would be better.

"Sookie, we are running out of time, and I need to explain the plan to you." Eric started to pull me away.

I heard both Eric and Bill talking, but my mind was racing, trying to make sense of it all. I gathered I didn't have much choice about helping Eric. I wasn't in a position to fight him. The best I could do is hope to reach some sort of deal with him. Eric responded well to negotiations. If I was going to ask him to help me figure out how my memory got so drastically altered, I was going to have to cooperate with his plans.

"Stop talking." I said quietly, knowing both of them would hear me. "I don't know what the hell is going on, or how I ended up involved in this. I'm not sure who I can trust. What I _do_ know is that I'm going to need help sorting all of this out. So, Eric, if you have a plan to get Russell, lets hear it."

"Sookie, no, this is not our fight." Bill's fangs were out. I wanted to roll my eyes at him.

"Don't talk to me like I'm a child, Bill Compton. I'm a grown woman. After what I went through in Dallas, I think can handle just about anything. Funny how it was Lorena then, too, that came between us." I spat at him.

"She called to me as my maker." He said as if that excused everything. It didn't.

"Did she _force you_ to have sex with her, Bill? Did she tie you down, or hold a knife to your throat? I get that she's your Mom, or whatever, but I don't think she forced you to sleep with her. If she did you wouldn't have gone so far to cover it all up. You told me to go to Eric- to place myself in his protection, and that's exactly what I'm doing." I turned to look at Eric. "So, tell me your plan."

* * *

_TB!Sookie: Trust and Blood_

My body slid backwards from the precipice of Mount Saint Eric and I sighed out, "_Cock blocked by Elvis in my own fricken dream. I thought he 'Left the building.'" _

Eric's body tensed and he whispered, "Bubba."

_Huh?_

"Miss Sookie! Mr. Eric! I tracked you down!" Elvis, no Bubba? said.

"Oh, good for you, Bubba," Eric said, ending the kiss. He started to pull his hand away but I clamped my hand on it keeping it where it was. Eric just grinned and stroked me a couple of more times before whispering, "Later," against my lips and pulled away. I'm nowhere near as strong as the weakest vampire so I had no choice but to let him go.

Eric looked over at the new addition to our group with more than a little irritation and asked, "What are you doing here Bubba?"

"You told me to stick with Miss Sookie so that's what I done." If I didn't know any better I would've thought Eric was a little amused at his statement. Elvis/Bubba settled himself onto a floral upholstered chair in the corner and asked, "You get hurt bad at that club, Miss Sookie?"

I just stared back at him in bewilderment. This dream was starting to feel more and more like I was awake, but I couldn't reconcile how that was possible. I looked at _Bubba _and said, "No, I'm okay. How did you know I was hurt? Were you there too?"

He looked guiltily down towards the floor before answering, "I'm sorry I didn't do my job, but that little critter guarding the door wouldn't let me in. He didn't seem to know who I was, if you can believe that." I couldn't help staring at the Rock-N-Roll legend turned Vampire. He looked exactly like he did so many years ago with a dark lock of his hair falling forward and a gold ring on every finger. He seemed to perk up when his eyes met mine again and said, "But I saw Mr. Eric carrying you out, so I followed you." He paused for just a moment before he asked, "Miss Sookie, what are you doing in bed with Mr. Eric if Bill is your boyfriend?"

So now Elvis was in on my love life too? I tried to tamp down my irritation at his personal question and cryptically replied, "Sometimes things aren't always so black and white." I then turned to Eric and couldn't help but notice the surprise that flashed across his features that slowly turned into a genuine smile. I was about to get even more irritated with my next question, but I asked anyway. "I'm not dreaming am I?"

The smile left his face in the next heartbeat, if he would've had one, but he ignored my question and looked to Bubba saying, "I am going to give her blood, Bubba. Let me tell you what I need you to do."

"Sure," Bubba agreed, nodding his head.

"Since you got over the wall and into the house without being caught, I need you to search this estate. We think Bill is here somewhere."

I opened my mouth to interrupt him wondering what in the hell he was talking about. I had already rescued Bill and damn near lost my life because of it, but Eric shot me a look that told me to keep quiet. Since I had no idea what in the hell was going on I shut my jaw with an audible click and crossed my arms, but stayed quiet.

Looking back at Bubba, he continued, "They are keeping him prisoner. Don't try to free him. This is an order. Come back here and tell us when you have found him. If they see you, don't run. Just don't say anything. Nothing. Not about me, or Sookie, or Bill. Nothing more than, 'Hi, my name is Bubba.'"

"Hi, my name is Bubba."

"Right."

"Hi, my name is Bubba."

I couldn't stop the snicker from escaping my throat at the potential that this could turn into the Vampire version of 'Who's on First.'

Eric didn't seem as amused as I was and put an end to it saying, "Yes. That's fine. Now, you go sneak, and you be quiet and invisible."

Bubba smiled, agreeing with his assigned task, and then saying he was going to go get some food because he was hungry. I was thankful Eric was standing there because I didn't think he'd let Bubba make ME his dinner. Bubba was climbing back out the window he'd come in through and suddenly it was just Eric and I once more.

His eyebrows furrowed as he studied me as if he wasn't really sure what he was seeing. I opened my mouth to ask him what in the hell was going on, but he raised a single finger in a gesture that he wanted me to wait for a minute before saying anything. I was fed up at that point so I raised my own single finger that told him what I thought about him silencing me.

The corners of his mouth twitched up, but he continued to slowly lean forward with his nose tilted slightly up as if he was scenting something. His eyes widened the closer he got to me and he leaned forward inhaling _Eau de Sookie_ before standing up with his eyes wide. And menacing.

He backed away from me and assumed a crouched stance as if he was preparing to attack and my heart started beating like a hummingbird's wings as I backed away with my hands raised up in front of me. His eyes slanted and he hissed out, "What are you? A witch?"

"What are you talking about Eric? I'm a telepath and, sometimes, a bitch, but I'm not a _witch!_"

"You smell different. I didn't notice it earlier with the scent of your blood in the air. But now I can tell, your scent is different and yet the same." He used his Vampire speed and moved too quickly for me to see and the next thing I knew I was pressed up against the wall by an angry Viking Vampire. He inhaled my skin again before looking at me and saying, "You smell as though you've had Bill's blood recently. How is that possible if you haven't seen him since he took off with his maker?" He inhaled deeply again and said, "You also smell of fae," with his eyes fluttering afterward.

That just raised my hackles back up. I wasn't sure what was going on with Bill and I anymore, but I'd be damned if Eric Northman was going play twenty questions with me without answering any of mine. And the whole 'Sookie is vamp crack because she's part fairy' still pissed me off, too.

"Don't you take that tone with me, Eric Northman. Whatever goes on between Bill and I is none of your business. Now why don't you answer one of my questions and then I'll answer yours. Why are we here? Why is your hair long again? How did I get from the basement of Fangtasia to that club without remembering anything in between?"

Eric seemed as utterly confused as I felt. "That's more than one question, but I'll start with the easiest one. My hair has always been this length, so I have no idea why you would think otherwise. You haven't been to Fangtasia in weeks and you've never been in the basement there. I would know. And finally," he released me from his grip and gestured around the room with both hands saying, "we are here to rescue Bill. He's being held on this estate." He looked down at me with one of his eyebrows hitched up and said, "Your turn."

My head felt like it was spinning so I closed my eyes and leaned back against the wall, only opening them again when I felt like I wouldn't pass out. Eric must have felt my distress because he gently picked me up and put me back on the bed and slid along side of me saying, "I don't know what's going on, but we don't have a lot of time. I need answers because the fact is, dawn is coming."

I didn't know how to answer them so I just released the verbal diarrhea that was running nonstop through my mind. "I smell like Bill because after he nearly drained me after I ALREADY rescued him I ended up in the hospital and they couldn't match my blood type." I held up my hand at Eric to halt his impending interruption and continued, "So when Bill got there, he ran a blood line from him to me, and that's what saved my life. Since he was the one that put me in that position in the first place, I wasn't too grateful." I figured I could skip over the part where we had sex because really, it was none of his business and I was more than a little ashamed for doing it.

Eric studied me for a long moment before saying, "And the scent of Fae?"

Were they ALL this obsessed with fairies? "I'm part fairy. I KNOW that's the only reason you all are interested in me, aside from the whole telepathy thing, so you can just forget it!" The thought that they only wanted me because I was vamp candy was disappointing to say the least.

Eric looked incensed and said, "I had no idea you were part fairy and I've wanted you since the moment we met. When I first tasted your blood it was mixed with the maenad's poison, but I didn't detect it when I had it again in Dallas. But then, I only had a little from the cuts on your arm. And your scent now, it's almost as if you were covered in a fairy blanket. It scents your skin and your hair. If I were to taste your blood now I would be able to see if it was different from the last time."

Gee…thanks for ADDING to my confusion Eric! "None of this makes sense. YOU didn't have my blood after Maryann attacked me. Bill wouldn't allow you to. And you didn't have my blood in Dallas, so strike two there. And since those two are a no go, there's no need for you to taste me now."

Eric stared at me some more and I could see the wheels spinning in his head, but I had no clue what he was thinking. He finally opened his mouth and said, "Sookie, I don't know what's going on. I would just write it off to your blood loss and banging your head from the attack earlier this evening, but coupled with your scent it doesn't make sense. In any case, we could have a long argument, but the fact remains that you need to have my blood. I don't know if you'll be allowed to stay the day here or not. I will need to find shelter, here or elsewhere. I want you to be strong enough to defend yourself; to be able to move quickly if you need to."

What in the hell was I supposed to do now? Do I trust Eric? He's not the same Eric that I've known, and yet he is. It was strange. Different but the same. My side still felt tender and I knew I couldn't stay here all day. There was just no way, not after having already escaped this hellhole once before. I looked up into his eyes and the intensity behind them told me all I needed to know for now. Eric was worried about me and didn't want to leave me helpless when he was dead for the day. That was enough, for now.

"Okay, but you're going to have to fill me in on the particulars. Like, is Bill still in that little building on this estate? Is Lorena in there with him? And what about the weres, that Debbie Pelt bitch and Cooter?"

Eric's eyes were boring holes into mine again. "You've already done this once before? You know where Bill is and that he's with Lorena?"

I sighed, perhaps dramatically, and said, "Yes. I did. But I had Alcide and Tara with me to help move his body after I staked Lorena."

His eyebrows shot up into his hairline and he grinned, apparently impressed with my vamp killing skills. "YOU staked Lorena?" He roared with laughter and the sound of it made me smile, no matter how much I tried not to. He trailed his finger down the side of my face, with a look of longing on his own, and I had to fight the urge to kiss him again.

Since I didn't have Alcide or Tara here with me, even if she was apparently white now, I needed another means of escape. "I'm going to need you to get me a car. One with a big trunk, like a Lincoln or a Cadillac. When I find Bill, I'll wrap him up in one of these blankets and try to get him into the trunk and then I'll drive him to….fuck. Where can I take him?"

I could tell Eric was back in planning mode so I let him work it all out in his mind. He finally said, "Take him to Alcide's apartment building. There's an underground garage there. It should keep Bill safe until nightfall, and I'll meet you there as soon as the sun sets."

Not trusting what I remembered of Alcide's place, he agreed to draw me a map to get there from here and leave it for me inside the car. Eric then sat up against the headboard with his legs spread apart. The royal blue silk boxers gaped open and I could see up the leg hole. There was another similarity between this Eric and my Eric and I closed my eyes blushing making Eric laugh again.

"Sit up with your back against my chest, Sookie. That will make you more comfortable.

He carefully eased me up until my back was leaning against his chest and he wrapped one arm around me. I found that I liked the feel of his skin against mine probably more than I should. He brought one arm behind me and I heard the telltale crunch sound with his bloody wrist suddenly appearing in front of my face.

"This will cure you of everything," Eric said.

I hesitated, knowing firsthand the after effects of having his blood in me. The dreams would probably be stronger than before, but really…I didn't mind them so much anymore. I wasn't lying when I told him I liked 'Dream' him. He was sweet and I always felt safe when we were together. I felt safe now, here with this Eric too. Something inside of me knew I could trust him.

I pulled his wrist to my mouth and began to suck on the two little wounds. Eric moaned with the first draw of his blood and I could _feel_ that he was enjoying himself. I could _feel_ it up against my back. He started moving a little while I continued to drink his blood and his other arm held me in place. I found myself moving back against him wanting to add to the pleasure he was feeling.

Eric growled a little in appreciation and his hand started sliding down from my waist to points farther south. His fingers slid into the front of my panties and resumed right where they left off earlier. I moaned against his wrist while pushing back against him harder with my body. My hips were moving against his hand in between my legs with him feeling the effects behind me.

I continued to pull his blood from his wrist with each of us panting and moaning against each other until we tensed and cried out together with each of us having our release. I licked at Eric's now closed wound and a shudder ran through my now sensitive body when he scraped his fangs along my neck. Did I want to let him bite me? Yes, if for nothing more than the pleasure those fangs can bring. Should I let him bite me? That was a whole other kettle of fish.

It turned out that I didn't have to answer my own question because there was a knock at the door signaling an end to the 'should I/shouldn't I' debate. Eric sighed and went to the door, opening it to find a small vamp with dark curly hair standing there.

It was only then that I realized Eric had a BIG wet stain on the front of his boxers giving away what we'd been doing just moments before. The other vamp could probably smell it anyway, but Eric wasn't bothered at all, while I turned what I was sure was a lovely shade of fire engine red.

He took an appreciative look at Eric before looking at me lying on the bed with nothing but my underwear covering me and said, "Well you certainly look better." He held up some clothes that he'd had draped over his arm saying, "I brought these for you to wear since we had to cut off that pretty dress of yours."

I'd forgotten all about that, but I was grateful so I replied, "Oh, thank you. This is very kind of you." I saw he had some powder blue sweats and socks along with a silk robe and panties even. I tried not to think about THAT too much.

I guessed Curly swung both ways because he looked up at Eric with a lot more appreciation and said, "Leif, would you like to share my coffin today?" _Was he batting his eyelashes at Eric? _Why was I feeling jealous?

I stared down at the bed in front of me and heard Eric saying, "I have to run an errand for Sookie. I'm not sure if I'll return before daybreak, but if I do, you can be sure I'll seek you out." I could hear the flirting in Eric's tone of voice and I felt JEALOUS! I had no reason to be, but I felt it anyway. I didn't want to hear anymore so I stood up and wrapped the robe around me asking Curly where the bathroom was and didn't stop until I was inside with the door shut.

I washed off and tried to figure out why I was jealous about anything to do with Eric. I still hadn't really figured out what was going on with Bill and I and now I add Eric to the mix? And I had no idea why everything was different, but parts were the same. Maryann was different and the same. Dallas was different and the same. I couldn't wrap my mind around the fuckery taking place.

I finished up in the shower, amazed at the number of hair care products available to me. I was back in the bedroom within fifteen minutes of leaving to discover that Curly was gone, Eric was dressed, and Elvis was making an encore appearance.

Eric eyed my robe clad body appreciatively which made me feel better and said "Bubba has scoped out the territory, Sookie." I wanted to laugh at his face which made it perfectly clear he was quoting Bubba, but then he piped up saying, "Miss Sookie, I found Bill," he said pleased with his report. "He ain't doing so good, but he's alive.'

I probably would've fallen apart at the thought if I hadn't already lived through it once. I knew it wasn't going to be pretty, but I knew he could survive it. I just sure as hell wouldn't be locked in with him when he did. I squared my shoulders and looked at Eric saying, "Okay. Are you going to get me the car now?"

Eric looked at me, seemingly amazed with the calm I knew I was projecting. I had his blood, a lot of it, so he knew exactly what I was feeling. From the look on his face he seemed pleased that I wasn't falling apart.

I listened as Bubba explained where Bill was being kept and it seemed to be the same place where they'd held him the last time. Bubba left through the window while Eric went to go find Curly and flirt him into going along with him to get me a car. I tried to tamp down the jealousy knowing Eric would be able to feel it. Eric soon returned with Curly knocking on the door not much later more or less politely kicking my ass out the door come daylight.

Eric arranged for Curly to make sure I could leave the estate which made it just a little bit easier than the first time I did this, so when they left to get the car I laid down and without planning to, I fell asleep.

I felt movement on my left and I knew it was Eric. His blood told me so, which kind of freaked me out. He leaned down, brushing a lock of hair from my face and kissed my cheek. I heard him inhaling again and he faintly murmured, "_Better…"_ If it wasn't for the fact that I'd just had his blood I'm sure I would've never heard it.

"What's better?" I asked.

I opened my eyes in time to catch his smirk when he answered, "Your scent. You smell more like ME now."

I just rolled my eyes which he completely ignored and then proceeded to tell me where the car was and what it looked like. I didn't like it when he told me if he could "disentangle" himself, he'd meet me at the parking garage at first dark and if I was gone he'd meet me in Shreveport.

I felt a pang in my chest knowing he was about to leave the room and "share" Curly's coffin for the day. Eric didn't look enthusiastic about it either, but I knew he felt it too. He took one last look at me before walking out the door and said, "I don't like having feelings."

Before he could shut the door behind him I called out, "Right back at ya!"

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Meg here- Just a closing note before y'all jump on my back about the way I'm writing the TB!verse in this story. I'm trying to stick to the way the finale worked out as much as I possibly can, so if you haven't seen it yet, well, beware the spoilers. I have a theory about how we end up with Amnesia!Eric next season (since that much as been confirmed by Alan Ball and the role of Hallow is being cast), and I get to roll that out here. Because this is SVM!Sookie in the TB!verse there are certain adjustments I have to make, so keep in mind this is an AU story when you're reading. That said, there are adjustments that Kacy is going to to have to make to accommodate TB!Sookie in the SVM!verse, since we all know SVM!Sookie doesn't have the same powers TB!Sookie does. It's about to get real interesting up in here.

Thanks for reading! We'll be back next Sunday with another chapter!


	3. Setting A TrapRescue Me

Let's start out by saying that Kacy and I apologize for being so review response fail. We read every single word you guys write to us. You should hear our gchats! Once we stop fawning over ASkars for more than five seconds (seriously, we're obsessed. Our cell phones are proof of it.), we talk about the reviews we've gotten. We love you guys so hard for giving us the time of day, whether it's this project, or the ones we have going separately. You guys are awesome, so thank you for your reviews, encouragement, alerts and faves. We really do appreciate it.

On with the show!

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Chapter 3: Setting A Trap/Rescue Me

_SVM!Sookie: Setting A Trap_

"I have been led to believe your blood allows vampires to walk in daylight hours for a short amount of time. The plan is to let Russell feed from you. I will do the same. When he challenges me to go outside first to prove I'm telling the truth, I will go out into the sunlight for the first time in more than a thousand years." Eric explained with a very unEric somber expression on his face.

"And if your plan backfires?" Bill asked smugly.

Before Eric could respond to that I asked, "Why would my blood let you walk in the daylight?"

My blood had never allowed that to happen before. Bill had almost died from daywalking, and he'd had much more of my blood than Eric did with those few mouthfuls he took before. He'd had my blood twice before that, but that was a while ago. Clearly the effects of it wouldn't still be lingering in him.

"It's the fairy." Bill said in a defeated tone.

"The _what_?" I was stunned, confused, flummoxed and every other synonym for dumbfounded. Eric and Bill shared a look that confirmed my surprise was genuine. "Okay, we need to back up a second because I'm not following any of this." I looked from one vampire to the other.

"Sookie, we don't have time for this." Bill's eyes were as intense as his tone was dismissive.

I glared at him, prepared to tell him he could just stifle himself, when Eric spoke up in a much gentler and persuasive tone of voice. "I have told you why I staked Talbot. I have explained the threat Russell poses to all vampires. He is aware of your ability, but he is equally aware of your otherness. He simply has yet to put a name to it, and he _will_ as soon as he gets his fangs into you. Fairies have a distinct taste that is easy to identify if you've had it before." Eric kept his eyes on me as he spoke.

"And you both have had my blood?" I looked from Eric to Bill.

"Until tonight, I can't say as I've had the pleasure." Eric said with a coy grin that I knew all too well. The Eric I knew had had my blood before, but this wasn't my Eric. I had no reason to think he was lying to me.

"What about you, Bill? When is the last time you fed from me?" The last time I remembered was when we made up on my front porch after that football game, and then again in a few other places in my house.

"It was before I was abducted." Bill looked me in the eyes with an expression of longing.

"So the plan is for you to get Russell here to feed on me, and then what?" I wanted to be very clear on what Eric was planning.

"When my... when Godric died in Dallas, it took mere seconds for the sun to dispatch him. God was 2,000 years old." Eric's eyes darkened and were rimmed with red. Who was this Godric person? "I'm guessing it will take even less time for Russell to burn."

Just then a tall, slim woman with pale skin and long blond hair emerged from behind the door that led to Eric's office. She had big blue eyes and full pink lips. She strutted across the room to stand next to Eric, and spoke to him in a language I couldn't readily identify. I took some small comfort in knowing she wasn't the woman who had been picturing Eric. In fact, I couldn't get into her brain at all. She was a vampire.

"Pam?" The realization of who she must be dawned on me, and my jaw dropped.

"Why is she looking at me like that?" Pam stared at me with one eyebrow quirked, even though she was addressing Eric.

"Pam, we have more important matters at hand, wouldn't you say?" Eric trained his eyes on Pam. "Did you get what I asked for?"

"Of course. It's behind the bar." Pam jerked her head.

"Excellent. Keep an eye on him." Eric nodded toward Bill.

Pam gave me one of those terrifying Alice In Wonderland with fangs smiles, while Eric gestured for me to follow him. He led me toward his office with Bill pleading for me to run while I could. I really wished someone would shut him up. He didn't have anything of value to add, and while I appreciated his concern, running wasn't a long-term solution.

"Does he always talk so much?" I didn't bother to hide my annoyance.

Eric actually chuckled, a noise I found I loved to hear since it was rather rare. "Only where you are concerned." He held the basement door open for me. "After you."

I paused for a moment at the top of the stares. "Do I really have to go back down there? I'm not going to run, Eric."

"Under other circumstances, I would hand you over to Russell and be done with it." He looked me up and down.

"But you want the home field advantage."

Eric smiled at me and said, "Among other things."

I started down the steps with Eric right behind me. I stood in the same spot he'd released me from maybe an hour before. I picked up the collar he would be putting around my neck and handed it to him. He reached for it, but I jerked my arm back. His eyes met mine, his eyebrows reaching for his hairline.

"Trusting you isn't easy for me, Eric." I handed him the collar. "I don't doubt you would go about this another way if you had a viable option. The thing is, the last time I remember seeing you, you snuck into my house and then my bed before you threatened to torture me. The way I see it, I'm either dreaming, dead or in some alternate universe. I'm trusting you now because I don't have a choice. If I'm not dead, I'm going to end up that way if Russell gets a hold of me. So I'm doing you a favor by playing along, and you're going to do me one by making sure that man is Spaghetti-O's."

Eric smirked and said, "Usually when you get bossy, I get annoyed, and then aroused. Today, I find it's the reverse. Perhaps it's your blood." I rolled my eyes as he closed the collar around my neck before gently untucking my hair from underneath it.

"Is it your goal in life to say the most crass things you can?" It was amazing how Eric's eyes shimmered in the darkness.

Eric bent down so his lips were close to my ear. "I meant what I said about us fucking. It's going to happen one day, Sookie."

"What makes you so sure about that?" I whispered, unable to get my voice to come out any louder than that.

"Because I can feel it in my blood." His breathless response was whispered against my ear. He kissed my neck where he'd bitten me, and you'd think I was glamoured the way I did nothing to stop him.

Damn blood. I could have told him he was wrong, but that would have been pointless. I didn't know if I wanted Eric, exactly, but I was curious. And I _had_ almost given in to him the night of the orgy.

Eric's eyes flared and he said, "I would love to know what is making you smell so inviting, but I have to go."

"Forgive me if I'm not thrilled about being drained."

"Do you trust me?"

"I already told you I do."

"Then know you will not be drained." There was that regretful look in his eyes, and he stroked my cheek gently in a move I wouldn't have expected from Eric.

"You better go." I was sort of surprised to find I didn't want him to. If Russell was as dangerous as Eric claimed he was, then it hardly seemed like a good idea for Eric to go after Russell at all, but especially not alone.

Before either of us could say anything further, Eric used his vampire speed to leave me in the damp basement. I paced for a bit until Pam came downstairs.

"Drink this." She ordered in her slow southern drawl, which was so different from the Pam I was used to. My Pam spoke with a hint of a British accent. She handed me a sports bottle.

"What is it?"

"It's to help sweeten your blood."

"What is it?" I asked gain.

Pam rolled her eyes and said, "Apple cider."

"Seriously?" I snickered as I took the bottle from her.

"Processed sugars are easy to identify in human blood. It's appalling what humans consume these days." Pam said with disdain. "This is organic apple cider. No preservatives, chemicals or added sugars. The natural sugars are useful for sweetening the blood without giving it an aftertaste."

"Interesting." I took a few gulps of the cider while Pam looked me up and down as I drank. "What?"

"You should know I don't approve of my master's infatuation with you. He's taking a _very_ big chance. Don't fuck it up."

"You think I want to be here, Pam?"

"I think it's time you made a choice." Pam folded her slender arms. "And I think you would be foolish to continue on with the young one."

"Aren't you and Bill about the same age?"

Pam snickered, looking very much like her maker when she did so. "He has yet to accept what he is. He holds on to his past and clings to you so he can feel human. His obsession with you has put us all in great peril."

"Why?" I asked before drinking the rest of the cider.

Pam confiscated the bottle. "You'll have to ask him." And with that, she was gone.

I paced the basement as I tried to make sense of things. Pam's claim that Bill was "obsessed" with me stuck in my craw. The Bill I knew was only too willing to put his needs ahead of mine. He hadn't moved a muscle when Long Shadow attacked. He left me in Dallas when I needed him. He cheated on me with his maker/mom. I would hardly call those the actions of an obsessed man. But the more I thought about it, I remembered the desperation in Bill's eyes whenever Eric got close to me.

Whatever was happening, I sure wasn't in Kansas anymore. I told myself that I would go along with this plan of Eric's because I didn't have a choice. I would give the performance of a lifetime, and pray that I wasn't wrong to trust Eric with my life. He'd never let me down before, but it seemed like just about anyone I ever counted on let me down eventually. The good thing about being a telepath was knowing I wasn't alone, even if that didn't make things any easier.

It might have helped if I could shake the feeling that I wasn't where I belonged. You know how you get the sense you're just in the wrong place? Well, I was feeling it big time. Things weren't adding up for me at all. I paced and occasionally casted mental nets to see who, or what, else might be lurking around. I felt only the familiar brains of Pam and Bill, along with a human who'd been glamoured within an inch of her sanity.

It felt like hours before the door opened again, and Eric appeared. He looked triumphant and strained all at once. He silently unlocked the cuff from around my neck. He bent to pick me up, and paused when his lips were at my ear.

"Fight me." He whispered.

"You can count on it." The temptation to kiss him was as strong as the temptation to slap him silly.

Apparently, Eric was feeling it, too. Our eyes met briefly, and in that look, he promised to keep me safe. His lips brushed mine, and then I was hauled over his shoulder. I beat at him and cursed him as he carried me upstairs. I called him ever dirty name I could think of before he dumped me unceremoniously on the floor of the bar.

I didn't bother to take in Russell's appearance before trying to make a run for it. I was caught, of course, and forced into a chair.

"Sookie, I'm starting to think you like being tied up." Eric leered at me.

"Why don't you grab some those silver chains and find out?" I retorted.

Russell let out a hearty laugh and said, "I do believe, Mr. Northman, that I like her spirit. I wonder if I'll taste the fire in her blood."

"You're not biting me, mister." I glared at Russell, who only laughed harder.

"Now, now, Miss Stackhouse, don't think it of as me biting you. Think of it as you giving me the most magnificent gift that could ever be bestowed upon a vampire." Russell corrected me, and I felt my eyes widen.

"Aren't gifts supposed to be given of the giver's free will? What you're doing is stealing, bud." I folded my arms petulantly, and turned to look at Eric. "I will _never_ forgive you for this, Eric Northman."

"Not my problem." Eric said coldly, and so convincingly, there was a part of me that wondered if maybe he didn't mean it just a little bit.

I sat there with a look of total contempt on my face while Russell rambled on and on about the things he was going to do now that he was going to be able to walk in the day. He sputtered on and on like a crazy man as he talked about the fae. I tried not to pay it much mind, and instead trained my eyes on Eric. I could feel Bill staring at me, but I couldn't bring myself to look over at him.

I knew I was missing quite a bit of what had supposedly happened in my life, but I couldn't help but get the sense that I was in this mess because of Bill. And how the hell did _he_ know I was a fairy, and I didn't? Even more than that, how the hell did Russell Edgington know what I was? I was missing big chunks of information that I needed to know, and assuming Eric kept his word, I planned to find out all of it.

Russell sniffed the air, and beamed a fangy grin in my direction. "Now, my dear, if you don't mind, I believe the sun has risen for the day. Mr. Northman, would you care to go first?"

"Love to." Eric popped his fangs at me, while Bill started issuing idle threats from his chair.

"I mean it, Eric. You do this, and I will _never_ speak to you again. Ever." I put as much hatred in my eyes as I could, and I swear, he flinched a little.

There was a sweetness to him I wasn't at all anticipating. He seemed almost reluctant to do what he was about to do, and I wished there was a way for me to tell him it was okay. I guess I was a better actress than I thought. Of course, I wasn't particularly crazy about this plan. Getting bitten when you weren't... if it wasn't in the throws of passion, shall we say, it wasn't exactly pleasant. I had a feeling Eric would be as gentle with me as he possibly could, but the same couldn't be said for Russell.

The Russell sitting in the next chair possessed the same charm as the Russell I knew, but there was something far more sinister in this one's eyes. I didn't trust this Russell any further than I could throw him. His smooth, southern charm was canceled out by his condescension and depravity. All of his rambling about Talbot and fairies alerted me to the fact that he was also probably a few shrimp short of a po' boy.

"Oh, hell." Russell said when Eric took too long.

The next thing I knew, I was being held down on the table in front of me, and Russell's fangs were sinking deep into my shoulder. I screamed for all I was worth, and it wasn't acting. It hurt like a son of a bitch. I felt Eric getting closer to me, and then hovering over my neck. His long, cool fingers stroked my hair in an effort to calm me, but it did very little. The piercing of his fangs was quick, but far less painful or vicious than the bite I'd endured from Russell.

Still, with two vampires sucking the very life out of me, I had every right to panic like I was. If ever there was a time for Eric to keep his word to me, this was it. I didn't have time to contemplate it much further, though, because the world around me was starting to fade to black.

Then, I was gone.

* * *

_TB!Sookie: Rescue Me_

The darkening sky was just starting to lighten when I awoke the next morning. My emotions were still a mess and I had no idea what I was going to do about Bill or Eric. Well, I _knew_ I was going to rescue Bill because there was no way I would leave him here with that bitch maker of his. After that though, I had no idea what I wanted to happen with him and I.

Remembering what happened the last time I rescued Bill, I looked around the room and found what I wanted in the wastebasket, the stake that was still covered in my blood. I dressed quickly and noticed that there was a purse and a black shawl that was similar to one I owned, in the room as well. Looking inside the purse I found a key and some cash and make-up that was the same brand and colors that I normally wore so I assumed it was mine.

Once I gathered everything, I folded the blanket from the bed and draped it over my arm with the stake clutched firmly in my grasp, now hidden by the blanket. I cast out a mental net before opening the door and could detect many voids down below, in what I assumed was the basement, as well as several human signatures, but they all seemed to be asleep.

Slowly, I opened the bedroom door and crept down the stairs and out the back door. I kept my shields down the entire time and I could tell there were a few Weres moving around the property, but I kept moving along as though I wasn't about to steal their prisoner and tried to look like I was any old human out for a stroll. I wasn't as nervous doing this a second time, especially since this time I had permission to leave the estate.

I kept walking to where I knew Bill was being kept and was surprised at how much better my vision was even though the sun was just barely peeking over the horizon. I knew it was due to Eric's blood and it worried me that we would have an even stronger connection now than we already had. As much as I wanted to deny it, I knew I was already drawn to Eric before I'd ever had his blood in Dallas.

I briefly wondered how similar our memories of that trip would match up given that I was somehow in a bizarro world running parallel to my real life. I had no idea of what the fuck had happened to bring me here, but I knew I had to figure out a way to go back. Unfortunately, I had no idea how.

I found the stables where I knew Bill was and they looked exactly like I remembered them, only this time there was a big ass white Lincoln backed up to one of the doors. Using the key Eric had left me I quickly opened the door and stashed my stuff inside.

I glanced briefly at the map to Alcide's place that Eric had left for me and I caught myself sniffing the paper for his scent which I could actually detect. Once I realized what I'd been doing I shoved the map aside pretending I did _NOT_ just act like an Eric Northman fangirl and got out of the car and opened the trunk. It was huge and I was happy to see that Eric had the forethought to place a couple of bottles of True Blood inside and I sighed thinking how differently things might've turned out if I'd thought of that the _first_ time I'd rescued Bill.

Raindrops started falling from the sky as I walked along the gravel with the blanket and stake in hand as I moved towards the door. I listened quietly with my ear at the door, but I opened it and stepped inside when I picked up no sound.

Bill wasn't lying on the floor like the first time and instead he was tied to a straight back chair with silver chains in the center of the room. My heart involuntarily clenched seeing him like this again, covered in burn marks from the silver as well as dried blood in his hair and all over his body from where, I assumed, Lorena had cut him. He was unable to heal because he obviously hadn't fed given her was the palest I'd ever seen him.

Because everything seemed a little different than the last time I had no idea if Debbie Pelt or Cooter were going to show up again, or even Lorena for that fact, so I quickly walked towards Bill to see abut freeing him from the silver chains.

I noticed an open doorway on my right that contained a room with some beds. There was a Were passed out on top of one of them with blood smeared on his face and I wondered if it was Bill's blood since I knew Russell's Weres were also addicted to V. That being said, I didn't want him to wake up and find me here so I kept walking towards Bill.

When his head snapped up my heart lodged in my throat because I knew he could smell me and I was worried about what his reaction would be. When his expression was nothing more than one of hop I knew I'd be safe with him for now.

I held up a finger so he'd stay quiet and went to stand behind him. Looking down I saw the chains were held together by two small padlocks. Bending down I whispered, "Key?" into Bill's ear as quietly as possible and when he lifted his obviously broken finger to point towards the door I'd through, my heart clenched for him a little more.

I looked over and saw two keys were hanging by the door so I put the blanket and stake on the floor by Bill and rushed back to the door. Of course it was up too high for me to reach and I really wished Eric was there with me. Not just because he would be tall enough to reach them but because I knew I'd feel safer with him by my side.

I cast my eyes around the room looking for something I could use to retrieve the keys when my eyes landed on a shelf that held some tools. I spotted some pincers and stood on my tiptoes as I lifted them from the shelf and did my best not to gag when I noticed they were covered in some pretty disgusting shit that had crusted over. I used them to work the keys off the nail they were hanging from and sighed in relief one I had them in my hand.

I ran back to Bill, unlocked the chains, and started the unpleasant task of unwrapping him. His whole body was rigid from the pain of the silver removing pieces of his flesh as it came off his body and while I felt bad for his pain, a part of me wondered whether or not the details of him ending up here were the same as the ones I remembered.

Did this Bill propose to me? Was this Bill kidnapped from the restaurant? Did this Bill taunt me over the phone with his bitch maker cackling in the background?

Recalling all of those tidbits caused me to pull the chains off his body with a little more force and I felt a petty sense of satisfaction when Bill hiss quietly because of it.

Once the silver was free from his body I could see him struggling to stay awake. I leaned forward and said, "I knew you're weak and tired but you need to get the fuck up because I can't carry your ass. You hear me?" His expression seemed to be that he was confused and I wondered if this Bill wasn't as smart as my Bill. At least he didn't look like Jim Morrison or Jimmy Hendrix, although I wouldn't have _hated_ the idea of him looking like Jim Morrison. I made a mental note to ask Eric about them since he knew Elvis.

I had just wrapped the blanket around Bill's shoulders when I heard, "Who the hell are you?" in a thick European accent coming from the doorway behind me. I mentally kicked myself for not paying attention to my surroundings and grabbed the stake at my feet as I whipped around.

I don't know if it was her shock at seeing me or Eric's blood in my system that gave me enough time to turn around before she was suddenly on me.

I could feel the strength from Eric's blood course though my veins as I twisted my arm from her grasp and spun around so Bill was between us. I was shocked by her appearance. The woman before me wasn't Lorena, at least not the one I knew. Her voice held that heavy accent and her hair was blond instead of brunette with her eyes brown like mine. Her build was smaller than mine, but something _told_ me that this _WAS_ Lorena. Still, I had to ask. "Lorena?"

"You must be his little human bitch whore," she spat. _Yep,_ I thought, _definitely Lorena._ "He was fucking me, all this time, you understand. The minute he saw me, he forgot about you, except for pity."

I vaguely thought that hearing her spew her venomous words that they ought to have hurt more, but they didn't register any higher than a slight sting on the pain scale.

I didn't have any more time to contemplate that thought because in the next breath she was leaping across Bill towards me. I watch her flying through the air in slow motion and turned the point of the stake upwards just as she landed on me with both of us toppling to the floor.

I felt the wood penetrate her chest and watched as she looked down in shock before meeting my eyes again. Her fangs retracted as she uttered the word, "No," and I glared right back and said, "Yes…now I've staked your ass TWICE bitch!"

I got out from under her has her body started to shrivel and I was surprised she didn't just explode into a bunch of vampire goo like they normally do thinking maybe it had something to do with their age. I'd have to ask Eric.

I saw Bill's eyes move from what was left of his maker back to me with no expression whatsoever on his face, but I got the feeling he was disappointed that she was gone for good. I'd be damned if he was gonna try and make me feel bad about this after everything I'd gone through, TWICE, to save his ass.

"What? She fucking had it coming!" I whisper shouted.

Bill remained silent and I could see whatever energy he had left was starting to slip away from him so I wrapped the blanket around his body as I 'listened' to see if anyone else was nearby. The only ones I could 'hear' were a couple of Weres in the next room and they both seemed to be asleep at the moment.

I leaned down and pulled his arm around my shoulders saying, "Bill! You gotta get up!" as I pulled him to his feet. I knew it was only possible because of Eric's blood and I was really starting to appreciate it, and him, a tiny bit more.

Bill continued to shuffle along the floor hissing here and there with the pain he was feeling, but whenever I started feeling any pity towards him I remembered Lorena's last few words about him fucking her the whole time and my sympathy for him disappeared quickly.

As soon as we got to the door and the weak sunlight hit him I felt his body start to go limp, but I was good and pissed off by then and I used the best weapon I could think of at the moment, Vampire pride.

"Bill Compton! Are you going to tell me you're too _weak_to get your ass out to the car? I'd be willing to bet if I was helping _Eric Northman_ that _HE_ would be strong enough to make it."

I felt, more than heard, the low growl in Bill's chest and knew I was on the right track. Fuck Lorena did he? I continued to verbally torment him with, "Aren't you wondering how I'm _strong_ enough to save your ass again?"

We continued moving at a snail's pace, but we were finally at the trunk of the car. I opened it and turned Bill so he would be sitting on the edge of it and said, "It's because I drank Eric's blood. A LOT of it and it was fanfuckingtastic." I pushed Bill into the trunk as he growled a little louder with my taunting confession and the blanket fell away from his face. His eyes were barely opened but I knew he was looking at me. I smiled innocently and said, "The orgasm he gave me was fanfuckingtastic too!" and then I shut the lid.

I half thought about hiding Lorena's remains since she didn't explode like the other vamps I'd seen staked so I ran back inside and carried her out thinking I could leave her in the sun to burn away. Her body had shriveled a lot, but not enough for my liking and the sky was too gray to get her to light up really good right away. I remembered passing a covered pool on my way her so I slid her under the tarp and walked away with a smile on my face.

I jumped back into the driver's seat and started the car. My adrenaline high was starting to wear off so I put the car in drive and followed the curved driveway all the way to the checkpoint gate. I made sure I kept my shields down and I knew instantly that they were both Weres. I got nervous wondering if they'd be able to smell that Bill was in the trunk, but I could tell from their thoughts that they were tired from the full moon the night before.

I rolled my window down and said, "I'm Sookie Stackhouse and I was told my name would be on the list so I could leave this morning?" I used my best innocent southern girl smile.

The Were asked, "You the one that got staked last night?" A slight breeze blew the scent of wet dog into the car as he finished asking his question. _Eewww…_

"Yeah," I replied.

"How are you feeling?" he continued. What was he, a _fucking doctor?_

"I'm good," _now let me the fuck out_ I thought.

"You coming back for the crucifixion?"

What the hell? Was Jesus a vampire too?

The other Were that had been in the guard shack came to the door and said, "Shut up Doug," but not before I caught an image of Elvis/Bubba from his head. _Fuck fuck fuck…_

They cleared me to go and as I waited for the gates to open I grabbed Eric's map and caught myself sniffing it again. I allowed myself one last sniff before holding it to the side so I could actually follow the damn thing. I was grinning as I pulled up to Alcide's building thirty minutes later thinking Eric was better than a GPS.

There was an empty guard cubicle and a barrier that hadn't been here the last time and I panicked wondering what in the hell I was gonna do now when I saw what had to be the guard, dressed in a heavy brown uniform, trudging up the ramp. He was human, thank God, and I read from his thoughts that he was worried about getting in trouble for being away from his post, but he really had to pee. I also read that he recognized me as Alcide's guest and wondered if I would need a temporary sticker.

He walked up to my window and said, "I'm sorry I was away from my post. I had to, ah…personal needs."

I smiled warmly and said, "Hey, if you gotta go, you gotta go, right?" He relaxed a little so I kept on with, "I had to borrow a car, but Alcide said I could get a temporary sticker?"

"Yes ma'am. That's apartment 504."

_If you say so_ I thought, but said, "You have a wonderful memory." And he did. I could pick up from his thoughts images of the layout of the garage and the building itself. Extremely helpful.

He handed me a temporary sticker that I put on the dashboard and after agreeing to return it when I left for good he finally lifted the barrier.

I drove into the underground garage and figured I should park somewhere towards the back where there'd be as little light as possible since I had no idea how light tight the trunk would be.

Once I pulled into a spot I looked at the clock and saw I still had hours until it would be sunset. My adrenaline high was long gone and I had turned on the heater full blast all the way here so the car was quite toasty and, again, without meaning too I fell asleep.

I woke up slowly and realized I'd been asleep for hours. The car was now cold and my muscles were stiff so I climbed out to stretch. I could help but think of Bill being in the trunk and even though I knew he was dead for the day, the girl Gran had raised made me want to make sure he was comfortable.

I opened the trunk and dropped the key into my pocket while looking inside. He appeared to be pretty much covered up, but I'd noticed the bottles of True Blood had rolled off to the side. I knew he'd need them as soon as he woke up so I leaned in to grab them and place them near his side.

My only warning was the sound of a shoe scuffing concrete and I was pushed inside the trunk. I felt my legs being lifted and folded in as well while the lid came down in the next second.

I was locked in the trunk with Bill and my only thought was, '_Here we fucking go again…"_

* * *

*waves* Hey all! Meg here... I just wanted to take a quick second to pimp out the individual stories my lovely fanfic wife and I have going right now. If you haven't started on **kjwrit's** The Northman Identity, you are seriously missing out. Assassin!Eric is some seriously hot stuff, so go check it out. I'm into the final chapters of HFT, as most of you probably know. I'll be sobbing right along with you when the last chapter gets posted. But, to relieve the heartache over the loss of our favorite teachers, I have two new stories in the works. **Northwoman** is currently doing an amazeballs job beta'ing Crash Into Me and I started posting Holding Back The Years this afternoon.

Until next week, kiddos!

*naked Viking hugs*


	4. Into The Light

Hey all! Thank you once again for all of your awesomesauce feedback. We appreciate all of your comments and questions. One of the questions posed to us was in regards to the physical differences between the two Sookies, and that's something that will be addressed more as the story goes on. You'll see more of it in chapter five, for sure. Also, we're going to be playing around quite a bit with the way things happened in both the show and the books. It's a necessary evil to accommodate these very different Sookies, so keep that in mind when reading. Anyway...that's all for now. We'll see you at the bottom. Happy reading!

* * *

Chapter 4: Into The Light

_SVM!Sookie_

I fell into what I could only imagine to be a dream world. I felt like I was in a shampoo commercial full of beautiful people. Everyone there was so happy and free. It was like they were weightless, and while I new I didn't belong there, I felt like I did. I was dressed in the most beautiful white dress I'd ever worn, and I couldn't help but notice the gentle tickling of grass under my feet as I ran barefoot across the earth. I stopped when I came to this little pond where a pretty brunette woman was sitting with her feet in the water.

She looked up with a warm smile when I approached her. "Sookie, we've been waiting for you."

That wasn't at all the greeting I was expecting, but again, I was struck with the feeling that I was safe. It wasn't a feeling I came across very often unless... unless I was with Eric. There's a thought I'd have to save for later, considering it was partially his fault I was currently trapped in this weird dreamland I was in. Again I found myself wondering if maybe I was dead. Eric had promised to keep me safe, but maybe I was dead. I really had no idea.

"You have?"

The woman's smile faded. "You should sit. There is much I need to tell you."

"Do I know you?" I asked as kindly as I could, since I was a bit leery of trusting this woman, even if my gut told me it was okay.

The woman's smile returned as she patted the grass next to her. "Sit. I'll tell you everything you need to know."

I surveyed the land, and found myself smiling at all of the dancing beauties swaying and shimmying around us. A half naked woman appeared from the depths of the pond, and stepped out of the water. When I turned back to Claudine, she was offering me a beautiful crystal goblet filled with a glowing liquid.

"What's this?"

"Taste it. I promise, you'll like it."

I sniffed the glass before bringing it to my lips. I don't know quite how to describe the taste of what was inside the glass, but it was delicious. I felt myself being replenished, all of the gaps in strength I was feeling started to fill themselves in. I sat down beside the strangely familiar woman, and continued to sip from the goblet.

"Sookie, my name is Claudine. Do you remember me?" She asked with hopeful eyes.

"No, I'm sorry, I don't. Should I?"

"The last time we spoke, it was because you were nearly drained by a vampire. Do you remember that?"

"Am I dead?" I countered quickly.

"No, but you're close to it, I'm afraid. I warned the vampire would try to steal your light."

"Steal my light?"

"Haven't you ever wondered what it is that sets you apart from everyone?"

"I'm a telepath. That has a way of making a girl stand out." I shrugged.

"Yes, but I mean even amongst the supernatural. Telepaths are rare, no doubt of that, but there's something else. They are drawn to you, yes?"

"They want to use me. They want to figure out a way to use my ability for their own purposes." I told her. The way she looked at me told me I was only half right. "Don't they?"

But then something in her eyes softened. She got a little closer to me and her eyes widened. "Glory be. You're the other one."

"The other one? What other one?" She was confusing the heck out of me.

I started to recount the number of drinks I'd had a Josephine's. Maybe this was all just some silly drunken dream. When I opened my eyes, I'd be right back where I was with _my_ Eric watching over me from a distance in his nerd suit. At the moment, nothing in the world sounded more appealing than that. Claudine was just about to explain when the bright sunshine started to fade.

"Sookie, you must go back. When you do, listen to your instincts. They have always guided you well in the past. Do not discount them now. Do you understand?" Claudine pulled her legs from the water.

"No." I shook my head vehemently.

"The vampire-"

"Eric?" Why his name was the first to spring to my lips, I don't know.

"No, the other one."

"Russell?"

"Your former lover."

"Bill!" I supplied for her.

"Yes, that one. Listen to your instincts when it comes to him. _Don't_ let him steal your light. He's going to try again. Don't let him succeed this time."

"Claudine, I don't-"

"I must go now, Sookie. We will see each other again. I give you my word." Claudine kissed my cheek, and then she disappeared into nothing.

If I understood right, Bill had nearly killed me, though I don't know how. I couldn't recall him ever doing such a thing. But then she said something about me being the other one. I didn't know what that meant, but I figured I had so many things to figure out, what's adding one more thing to the list? I watched as one by one, the beautiful people disappeared into nothing just the way Claudine did.

The next thing I knew, my eyes were wide open and there was blood running down my chin. Bill was standing over me with his fangs out, and panic in his eyes. "Did you give me your blood?"

"I saved your life." He said it like I owed him.

"Funny. I'm pretty sure I saved yours, too." I glared at him, and he backed off a little. "Where's Eric?"

"Outside. Burning." Pam said from the bar, her voice full of bitter sadness.

"We have to stop this." I shook my head at the insanity of what I was seeing. There on the monitors were Eric and Russell, cuffed together and laying in the sun in the parking lot. "Pam, how do I stop this?"

"Sookie, no. If you save Russell, he will keep coming after you until he drains the very life out of you." Bill warned me.

Claudine's words came to me and I spat out, "Like you tried to do in the back of a van not more than a week ago?"

Bill looked properly stunned and that was all the confirmation I needed. He _did_ try to kill me. Wherever the hell I was, Bill was clearly not the good guy I was used to. In my regular life Bill might not have been a prince, but he wasn't a killer either. Or was he? The very nature of vampires was death. Not to mention, Bill had killed Long Shadow and Uncle Bartlett for me. _Later_, I told myself. I needed to focus on getting Eric in out of the sun before he turned into a crispy critter. Having already seen one vampire burst into flames that I didn't know, I wasn't to anxious to see it happen to one I did.

I pushed past Bill and grabbed a length of silver chain since it was the only weapon I had at my disposal. I slipped out the door of Fangtasia and for the first time, I knew for sure I wasn't in Kansas anymore. I was at the bar but like the people inside it, it wasn't the same as the Fangtasia I knew. I ran over to Eric and Russell and felt my stomach turn at the sight of Eric's beautiful face smoldering and burning in the light. My only consolation was seeing that Russell was significantly more charbroiled.

"Eric, I'm here to help you." I knelt down over him and took stock of the cuffs linking him to Russell. This wasn't part of the plan he told me about. He was supposed to be stake Russell and be done with it. "Where is the key?"

"No. No mercy." Eric's eyes closed.

"Eric, I am _not_ going to let you die like this, now you tell me where that key is or I'll stake Russell myself."

"No!" Eric argued.

"Use your power." Russell rasped, a slight lisp creeping into his speech.

"I can't read vampire minds." I glared at him, not sure how that was going to help anyway.

"Not that power, you imbecile. Use your fairy magic and get these fucking cuffs off me."

"You watch your dirty mouth when you're talking to me, mister." I was tempted to kick him but I held back. "Eric, please, you have to tell me where the keys are so I can get you inside."

His eyes opened just enough to see me pleading with him. I suddenly felt horrible for every hurtful thing I'd ever said to him. He got on my nerves, and he certainly made a mess of my head sometimes, but I didn't want him dead. I was just starting to get to a point where I thought I understood him and now he was giving up? This wasn't the Eric Northman I knew.

Russell continued to belly ache and berate me. When it became evident Eric wasn't going to give up the location of the keys for the handcuffs, I started patting him down. He growled at me menacingly, but I wasn't paying much attention. He certainly wasn't in any sort of position to fight.

"Oh put a lid on it, Eric." I grumbled at him as I reached into one pocket after another in hopes of finding the keys.

"Use your magic!" Russell all but screamed at me, and then I really did kick him.

"I've about had it with you." I stared down at the newly Cajun vampire at my side. I jumped out of the way when he reached for me, thankful for the added speed vampire blood afforded me. "You've got another thing coming if you think you're _ever_ getting your hands on me again."

Russell went off on another of his tirades but I paid him no mind. Instead, I focused my eyes on Eric. There was a far off look on his face, and he was muttering in a language I didn't understand. He kept saying the name Godric over and over again, some times more passionately than others. In this other world I was in, was Eric gay? No, Godric was the name of the vampire who'd died in Dallas. But who was he to Eric? Something told me he wasn't Godric's lover, although there was definitely love in his eyes as he spoke to the figment of a man I'd never met.

Finally, I found the key in Eric's pocket. "I'm going to unlock you now."

"No!" Eric argued.

I just rolled my eyes and said, "You don't get a vote."

I unlocked the cuffs and started to pull Eric away from Russell, who clamped a hand onto Eric's ankle. I could drag Eric, thanks to Bill's blood in my system, but there was no way I could take them both at once. When Russell wouldn't let go of Eric, I gently set him down. I walked over to Russell and stomped on his wrist with all my weight. It was enough for him to let go. Eric's survival instincts must have kicked in because he moved his leg far enough away so Russell couldn't get at him.

I dragged Eric the rest of the way back into the bar, and with Pam's help, I got him situated on a leather sofa near the little stage where Eric's throne was. "He needs blood. _Human_ blood." Pam looked to me.

Without hesitating I held up my wrist to Eric's mouth for him to bite me. I could tell he was trying to drop his fangs, but nothing was happening. Pam stood there fretting over her maker while I turned to Bill with an expectant look on my face.

"Bite me." I ordered him. He shook his head. "I'm not asking, Bill Compton. Either you bite me, or I'll have Pam do it."

Amazing how quick that got Bill to drop his fangs. He sank them into my wrist a little harder than he needed to, like he was trying to prove a point. Our eyes locked but he was the first to look away. With a smug sense of satisfaction I turned quickly to offer my wrist to Eric. He latched onto it quickly and before I could stop myself from doing it, I was stroking his hair the same way he'd stroked mine when he bit me. It was a small measure of comfort but it was, by no means, unappreciated.

I was, however, left to wonder what the significance was of this Claudine woman. Something told me it wasn't just a dream I'd had while I was passed out. Whatever it was she was trying to tell me, it was something important. I looked over my shoulder to see Bill glowering down at Eric and me. When I turned back to Eric, the burns on his face were already healing. I started to get lightheaded, so I tried to pull away. Eric only sucked harder and it didn't escape my attention he was getting rather turned on by drinking from me.

"Eric, that's enough." I struggled against him.

"Eric, stop." Pam ordered and he immediately relinquished his hold on my wrist.

"Thank you, Sookie." He said with kindness in his eyes that matched the gratitude in his voice.

Bill made a noise behind us. "Why don't you make yourself useful and get Eric a True Blood?" I suggested.

"I need to get Russell." Eric was on his feet, good as new.

"What? No! Eric, you can't go back out there." I argued with him.

"Eric, this is insanity. Let that fucker fry." Pam stood with a hand on her hip and bloody smears on her cheeks. It was, quite possibly, the most pitiful I'd ever seen Pam look.

An argument ensued between the vampires over what was to be Russell's fate and ultimately, Eric ended up pulling rank on them. He moved toward the door but I grabbed onto his hand. He stopped and turned his head toward the sound of my voice.

"Eric, the whole point was for him to die, wasn't it? You promised me I would be safe and if you let him live, that's not going to happen. All of this will have been for nothing. I trusted you." My eyes pleaded with his for him to think rationally about what he was doing.

"He _will_ die, Sookie, but he will die by my hand." There was determination and malice in his voice.

My breath caught at what a lovely shade of blue his eyes were. They were just the littlest bit different from my Eric's eyes, but they were just as magnetic. All one thousand of Eric's years were present in his eyes at that moment and I knew if I continued to just stand there, he was going to go back into the sun to retrieve Russell himself.

"Ugh, fine. Fine! But you owe me for this!" I shouted at Eric.

"Sookie, I cannot allow this." Bill stepped up behind me.

"Good thing I'm not yours to command." I spat at him before slipping outside again.

Russell was in an even worse state. Without so much as a word, I grabbed the silver chain that was laying on the ground. I wrapped it around his neck, causing him to squeal like he was auditioning to replace one of the Gibb brothers. I pulled him inside the bar, and once the door was closed tightly, the vampires took over.

"Sookie, would you be so kind as to hold those chains for me?" Eric's tone was practically sing-song as he loomed over Russell.

I moved to grab the chains to wrap them around the pole behind the extremely burned vampire before me. He dropped his fangs and attempted to bite my wrist but I quickly tightened my grip on the chains, forcing Russell's head to turn. When one of his fangs fell out, Eric could barely contain his glee.

"That's embarrassing. I'll take that." Eric grinned with his own very affixed fangs hanging down. He pocketed Russell's tooth.

"You should have left me in the sun," Russell rasped, pausing to cough, which was something I'd never heard a vampire do before. "I'm going to kill you all."

"Not likely." Eric said in an indifferent tone.

"We need to go to ground." Pam said from behind Eric.

Eric slipped off the gloves he'd been wearing while handling the silver. "I agree. Prepare a coffin for Mr. Compton."

"I'll stay here with Sookie. I am not leaving her alone with Russell." Bill stepped up and put his hand on me, only for me to shake it off.

"Who says I'm staying here? My job is done." I looked from one vampire to the other.

"I need someone to watch him. Ginger will be here soon but unlike her, you can't be glamoured." Eric pointed out.

Well son of a... "Ugh. You owe me double." I stared at Eric, who nodded his agreement. "Fine."

"Come along, Bill." Eric motioned for Bill to follow him.

"I'm staying with Sookie." Bill said firmly.

I noticed Eric talking on his cell phone quietly, but had no idea he who he was talking to.

I turned to face Bill, who was bleeding from his ears and nose. "Bill, not only do you have the Bleeds, but I don't much want to be around you at the moment. Go rest."

"But I-"

"I wasn't asking."

Bill gave me one of those tortured boy who lost his puppy looks, but then walked through the door Eric was holding open for him. There were things I wanted to say to Eric, but it wasn't the time. Eric disappeared through the door leaving me alone with Russell

o.O.o.O.o

For the first time ever, I sat in Eric's big throne. It wasn't nearly as comfortable as I thought it would be considering the cushions on it. It was lucky for me there were tabloids behind the bar and I had practice tuning out unwanted voices. Russell sat there bitching and moaning, trying to find the right combination of words to say to get me to see things his way.

"I could kill the Viking for you." Russell offered jovially.

"And why would you do that?" I asked without looking up from the story I was reading about Lindsay Lohan's most recent arrest. Seemed that girl had about as much luck staying out of trouble as I did.

"Wouldn't it make your life simpler? No more men fightin' over you, pretendin' to want your affections when really, all they want is to get their fangs your pretty neck." Russell drawled dramatically.

"What about Bill? Why not kill him?" I asked.

"Mr. Compton has done quite well to convince you he loves you but I assure you, Miss Stackhouse, it is your blood he loves. The taste... oh there is nothing like it. It is the finest wine, the sweetest honey. Nothing compares to the blood of a fairy, even a hybrid. A vintage of your caliber is other worldly. I could end them both, if that's what you'd like." Russell proposed.

"What's in it for you?"

"You would be mine, of course."

"That's a real sweet offer, your Highness, but I'm afraid I'm gonna have to pass." I continued on with my reading.

"You're a foolish girl." He growled at me.

I set aside the magazine and stepped off the platform, careful to keep my distance from Russell in case he was stronger than he looked. A large crystal decanter got my attention. I moved toward it, curious as to what the red goo inside it was. The closer I got to it, the more tense the air became. When I touched the crystal, Russell about exploded behind me.

"Keep your filthy fang bangin' hands away from my Talbot." Russell screeched.

I looked over my shoulder. "You carry the remains of your lover in a decanter?"

"He will come back to me. I will kill you all, and I will have my Talbot back." Russell said with delusional determination.

"How?" I picked up the decanter.

"Don't you touch him!"

I held onto the crystal and moved closer to Russell. Just what the hell was he doing carrying around what was left of his lover? I'd seen some crazy things in my time but this beat all. It just so happened I was standing close to the door when Ginger walked in. The decanter began to smoke a little bit when it made contact with the sunlight that came pouring in. Russell screamed bloody murder, almost like the sun was hitting him.

"Oh, hush." I moved the crystal away from the sun.

Ginger screamed at the sight of Russell all burnt up and chained to the stripper pole. "Christ on a cracker, what in God's creation is going on here?"

"Don't look at him, Ginger!" I yelled at her. She averted her eyes quickly before Russell could glamour her into letting him loose. "Eric's holding him. Under no circumstances are we to let him out of this bar. Understand?"

She nodded quickly and covered her eyes as she walked past him to get to the office. "It's nice to see you again, Sookie." She said over her shoulder before disappearing behind the employees only door.

Clearly Ginger didn't get that I was different, but that didn't surprise me. Ginger wasn't exactly known for being observant. I sat down at the bar and set Talbot's remains up on the scuffed wood next to me. Russel put on a big display of moaning like he thought Ginger might take pity on him and release him from his binds. That wasn't going to happen.

The clock behind the bar told me we were still a few hours away from sunset. I was bored out of my mind. I had nothing to do but wait. Ginger went to work behind the bar cleaning one thing or another when the door opened again. Sunlight back-lit the large frame standing in the doorway, making Russell scream in pain as the light reached his legs. Ginger's screams mixed with Russell's and I wished I could gag them both. Enough was enough already.

The door swung shut as the large man made his way inside. My eyes adjusted to the darkness again, and then I broke out in a grin to see who was standing there. "Alcide?"

"Sookie Stackhouse. Boy are you a sight for sore eyes." He grinned and caught me easily when I launched myself at him for a hug.

* * *

_TB!Sookie_

Once the initial flood of panic had flushed from my system I realized I'd caught a brief brain signature as I was being shoved into the trunk. A _shifter_ brain signature and I _knew_ it was Debbie Pelt, Alcide's ex-girlfriend.

When I'd been lying on the club's floor with the stake in my side I had thought it was all a dream, but I now knew that it wasn't. The wolf that had licked my face while I was lying there had to have been Alcide. Eric had told Russell that Alcide had invited him to the club to meet me, his pretend girlfriend, so Alcide must have been my date at the club last night.

In _my_ reality Alcide and Debbie weren't together anymore with her being with Cooter. I had no idea if they were a couple in _this_ reality, but either way the Debbie Pelt I knew would've been pissed if she knew I'd been Alcide's date at the club. And now that I thought about it, I was pretty pissed at Alcide for leaving me there in a room full of vamps with a stake shoved in my side. The Alcide _I_ knew had seemed very sweet and there was definitely some chemistry between us, but if he could leave me bleeding out surrounded by vamps and go home for a roll in the hay with his ex-girlfriend he wasn't earning any points with me.

I pushed those thoughts away for the time being and focused on my present situation. I was locked in a trunk with Bill who was injured and hadn't been fed in God knows how long. Experience has proven that that combination doesn't bode well for Sookie Stackhouse.

I shuddered as I remembered the first time this had happened and at the time I'd thought that Bill would _never_ hurt me. That he would recognize me and not harm me because he _loved_ me. I was so very wrong. He'd apologized afterwards and blamed it on his injuries and bloodlust, but a small part of me wondered if he loved me so much then how could he have gone through with almost draining me? Wouldn't my scent or the taste of my blood have been enough for him to recognize who I was? Who he was about to kill?

And now I was locked in with him _again_ only _this_ time I wasn't as naïve as I'd been the first time. I had no misplaced trust that he wouldn't hurt me. And, I now realized, I had also taunted him with Eric right before he fell back into his daytime rest. I was so screwed.

It had to have been early afternoon when I'd woken up in the car and I knew sunset would be around five so I had roughly four hours to try to find a way out of the trunk before he woke. I felt all around the trunk looking for the trunk release mechanism, but all I felt were the ends of where the interior latch had been cut off. I twisted and pulled them with all of my might, but they wouldn't budge.

My body had gotten stiff from the cold as the hours ticked by and I tried to pull the blanket off of Bill to wrap around myself, but I couldn't unwrap him completely in the cramped space of the trunk. I'd heard one car leave while I was lying there and later I'd heard the voices of some people farther away. I yelled and screamed and banged on the trunk lid, but the noise of a big engine drowned me out.

There was nothing else I could do so I drifted into a meditative state trying to conserve my energy. I don't know how much time had passed when I felt Bill stir. Panic and fear welled up inside of me and I hoped and prayed that Eric would get there before things got out of hand. He'd told me, before I'd gone to Jackson that he would be able to feel if I was in trouble because of the small amount of his blood I'd had in Dallas. I had a hell of a lot _more_ of his blood last night so he should be able to feel my terror now. And I knew because he was older that he could resist the pull of the sun, so if Bill was already waking then maybe he'd be awake now too.

Bill made a painful hissing sound as he moved and then his entire body tensed. My fear spiked because I knew he smelled me. I knew I had to try and talk some reason into him having no other way to protect myself.

"Bill," I said, my voice hoarse from the cold. "It's me, Sookie. There's some bottled blood here for you to drink." I reached over to grab the bottle for him but in that same instant he pounced. His fangs pierced my skin and the pain shot through my body as I screamed while trying to push him off of me. He was just as savage and brutal as the last time and without Alcide or Tara here to help me I wondered if I wouldn't be so lucky this time around.

My energy was quickly draining from me along with my blood and my screams and cries were becoming fainter, but I gathered the remaining energy I had and pinched Bill's ear while yelling at him one last time trying to get him to snap out of it.

I thought it worked when he released my neck and said, "Ow." When his body shifted is when I felt his _other_ need pressed up against my leg, but before I could finish the thought he started pulling at my clothing and trying to twist and turn my body underneath him. My adrenaline and terror spiked again as I remembered my Uncle Bartlett. Bill _knew_ what had happened to me as a child and _still_ he was intent on raping me. I would never forgive him.

It was TOO much. I'd been hurt TOO much in my relatively short lifetime, both physically and emotionally and I'd had ENOUGH. Just as Bill was about to force his way into me I felt the energy gathering inside of me and it came out through my hands and into Bill's chest that I had been desperately pushing against.

The entire interior of the trunk lit up as Bill's body was forced up into the trunk lid with the force of the impact popping it open. I watched as his now unconscious body was about to fall back onto me when a pair of hands shot out and pulled me from the trunk just before Bill landed back inside. I looked up and saw Eric standing there with his eyes wide and his mouth agape as he looked back and forth between Bill and me. His eyes travelled along my body which was covered in blood from Bill's attack and my clothes were ripped and torn from my almost rape. When they met mine again I saw the sadness behind them while he looked at me and the last thing I felt before I slipped into unconsciousness myself was his rage.

"She's coming around," Eric said. "Maybe that was enough blood."

My eyes were still closed and I wasn't completely alert yet, but I couldn't help but notice the worry and relief in his voice. "She really is," I heard him say as my eyes fluttered open to see three anxious faces staring back at me. Alcide, Eric and Bill. If I didn't feel like complete shit I might have laughed at their identical expressions, but I was still pretty pissed at two of the three faces in front of me.

I looked around the room and saw I was back in the room I stayed at in Alcide's apartment. There was a bottle of True Blood and a large pitcher and a glass on the vanity table behind Alcide, but before I could contemplate that any further I felt cool fingers lace with mine as Bill said, "Sookie." Hearing him say my name that way pulled at my heartstrings and I looked over at him to see the cuts and bruises on his face were fading.

_Of course they're fading,_ I thought, _he nearly DRAINED me AGAIN to heal himself!_

Remembering it all, I ripped my hand away from his and tried to slide myself away from where he sat on my right side, but my entire body was in pain with every movement. I watched his eyes fall at my actions and then they turned into steel as I felt another pair of cool hands help me slide further to the left. I didn't have to look up to know that they were Eric's hands because, once again, his blood inside of me _felt_ him there. It made me simultaneously feel panicked and comforted so they sort of cancelled each other out.

Hearing Bill's voice spit out, "Sookie is MINE!" brought me back from my internal musings and I spat out, "I am NO ONE's Bill Compton. YOU made sure of THAT when you fucked that bitch MAKER of yours!" I watched the shock and regret spread across his face and I could feel pride and satisfaction coming from Eric, but it only made me more irritated. I didn't want to think about what it all meant for Bill and me, or Eric and me for that matter, so I changed the subject.

Looking up at Eric I said, "When I was leaving Russell's this morning the Were at the gate asked me if I was coming back for the crucifixion tonight." The look on Eric's face told me that he had no idea what I was talking about so I continued on saying, "I got an image from his mind. He was talking about El…Bubba."

Eric's face hardened as he said, "That cretin!" He paused before asking, "They caught him?"

"They must have," I replied. I didn't know _Bubba_ too well, but he seemed harmless enough. At least as harmless as a vampire could be. I felt bad knowing he got caught because he was helping us find Bill and I wanted to help him if I could.

"We'll have to retrieve him," Bill said. I inadvertently glanced over at him when he spoke and his eyes locked onto mine seemingly pleading with me to _forgive_ him maybe? To understand _why_ he nearly drained and raped me? Too bad for him that I wasn't up to thinking about that right now so I looked back at Eric.

"I guess you're right," he angrily agreed. "We have the responsibility of him. I can't believe his home state is willing to execute him! Where's their loyalty?"

"And you?" Bill asked. I realized he was speaking to Alcide and as I focused on him I gathered from his snarled Were thoughts that he had spent part of last night with Debbie.

"I don't see how I can," Alcide desperately replied. "My business, my father's, depends on my being able to come here often. And if I'm on the outs with Russell and his crew, that would be almost impossible. It's going to be difficult enough with they realize Sookie must be the one who stole their prisoner."

"And killed Lorena," I added triumphantly.

Everyone paused as they soaked up that tidbit of information and a wide grin spread across Eric's face as he said, "Again? Your talents and charms grow day by day."

"What do you mean _again?_" Bill asked.

Eric's face hardened again when he said, "It's none of your concern Compton." They continued to stare daggers at each other before Alcide piped up with, "Sookie killed a vampire? More than one?"

I could tell from his thoughts that I was raised up a few notches in his book. Too bad he was lowered a few in _my _book now that I knew he'd gone back to Debbie the night before.

"Sookie staked Lorena. It was a fair kill," Bill explained.

Eric's eyes lit up once more as he looked back at me and asked, "You killed her in a _fight_?" His pride in my accomplishment was evident and it made me feel a little proud myself, but I was getting sick of being the focus in the room so I said, "What about Bubba?"

I watched Eric as his mind whirled, the consummate strategist, before he said, "If Sookie has not been pegged as having helped Bill escape, she is the best choice to get us back on the grounds without setting off alarms. They might not be expecting her, but they won't turn her away either, I'm sure. Especially if she says she has a message for Russell from the queen of Louisiana, or if she says she has something she wants to return to Russell…" He shrugged as if I could think up something good.

I'd be damned if they thought I was about to go back there yet again, but the guilt over Bubba's fate weighed on me. I was trying to think of any other options we might have when Alcide's thoughts came through crystal clear. He was thinking about how soon we would be out of there so he could call Debbie.

What little restraint I had left where his actions with all that had happened were concerned broke and I looked over at him and spat out, "Know who pushed me in the trunk and slammed it shut?" His eyes locked onto mine for a brief moment before he stood up and left the room, pulling the door shut behind him. Out of cowardice or denial, I didn't know, nor did I care. Whatever we _could_ have had between us was no longer an option.

"Who did it Sookie?" Eric asked with obvious malice in his voice.

"His ex Debbie Pelt. Not so ex after last night though."

"Why would she do that?" Bill asked.

Eric let out an unneeded sigh before answering, "Because Sookie had to act as Alcide's date when they went to the club." I could tell Eric didn't like it any more than Debbie apparently did even though he knew it was all an act.

Eric and I hadn't discussed all of the specifics the night before and I had no idea if my reasons for being in that club the night before with Alcide were the same as from _my_ reality so I stayed quiet and let Eric answer him instead.

"You must have been hit on the head a few times Bill," Eric said as if he was an idiot. "She was trying to 'hear' where they had taken you."

This conversation was getting too close to what I needed to discuss with Eric and with my trust in Bill gone, perhaps for good, I didn't want him to know that I didn't belong here. My memories and experiences were different to a degree from everyone else's and while I had no idea how it happened or what it meant, Eric was the only one I would trust with that secret for now.

I brought the subject back to a neutral subject and said, "I really don't want to go back to Russell's for Bubba. Can't you just call them?"

I swear I could almost _see_ the light bulb appear above Eric's head when he replied, "Well, what a good idea."

Eric sent Bill from the room to retrieve Alcide's phone and try to find Russell's number. While he was gone Eric filled me in on what had happened the night before. Apparently I had saved Russell's second, Betty Joe Pickard from being staked, having been myself in the process. Eric wanted me to call Russell's house and demand to speak to Betty Joe saying she would take my call for the mere fact that I'd saved her life.

Bill returned with the phone and I made the call, demands and all, for Betty Joe to finally come on the line. She sounded as though I was putting her out and let it be known that she'd already repaid me by having me healed and not erasing my memories. I wanted to tell her that I _couldn't_ be glamoured, but I figured it wasn't the time for adding a '_So there!'_ with my tongue sticking out that she couldn't see anyway.

It took me a few minutes to convince her that the 'impersonator' they were about to fry was the real deal, but as soon as she believed me Bubba had been spared in just the nick of time. I couldn't believe it when she asked if they could _keep him_ like he was a stray cat they found. I handed to phone to Eric who all of the sudden had an English accent and I missed the majority of what he'd said because I was too busy trying the douse the fire in between my legs from hearing him speak. A low growl from Bill told me he knew what I was feeling and Eric's grin told me he knew it too. If I'd had the strength I would've grabbed both of their heads and clunked them together like the Three Stooges.

Eric was off the phone still grinning at me while Bill was glaring at him when Alcide came into the room saying, "Move! You all have to move next door into the empty apartment. Quick, quick!"

Bill automatically went to scoop me up in his arms, but the memory of what happened the last time he'd touched me flashed through my mind and I gasped in terror as I cringed away from him saying, "NO!" I didn't have time to see if my words had affected him because Eric scooped me up instead and I buried my face against his chest feeling safe in his arms. Bill broke the lock on the apartment door next to Alcide's and Eric rushed me inside and closed the door just as we heard the elevator arriving at the end of the hall.

Eric held me swaddled in a blanket against his chest while he and Bill continued to glare at each other until I couldn't take the testosterone anymore and asked him to put me down, which he did so reluctantly. I sat with my back up against a wall with the blanket pulled tightly around me while Eric listened in on what was going on at Alcide's.

"What a bitch," he whispered. _Yep, that's Debbie_ I thought. I watched Eric's face change into a surprised and then amused expression as he explained, "Debbie stopped by his sister's house last night to grill her about you. Alcide's sister likes you very much. This angers the shape-shifter Debbie. She is insulting his sister in front of him."

I'd only met Alcide's sister once and she'd put me in that god awful black wig and skank outfit so I guessed _this_ Janice had a little more taste considering how I'd been dressed the night before. I felt a bitchy sense of satisfaction that Debbie was being a bitch to Alcide now. It served him right.

I got nervous when I saw Bill's body go tense and Eric's jaw dropped open while looking at me with an unreadable expression. Then I heard the unmistakable sound of a slap next door.

"Leave us for a moment," Bill said to Eric. I didn't like the sound in his voice and I sure as hell didn't like the idea of being left alone with him at the moment.

I looked over and saw Eric about to leave the room when I called out, "No." Eric turned to look at me and I begged, "Please don't leave me alone with him."

I turned to see Bill looking back at me with my words obviously hurting him, but I was still in survival mode and I wouldn't be swayed. "Say whatever it is you wanted to say to me Bill, but Eric's staying. He'd be able to hear you in the next room anyway so it makes no difference."

Bill slowly reached towards me like you would towards a frightened animal and I squelched my desire to jump back knowing Eric would be on him like white on rice if he tried to hurt me, not that I thought that he would at the moment but I was still feeling the effects of his attack just a short time earlier.

When his hand finally rested on my own he looked into my eyes and said, "He just told this woman how good you are in bed."

_WHAT. THE. FUCK?_

Anger surged through my veins and I pulled my hand out from underneath his and whisper shouted, "EXCUSE ME? You're concerned that I might have FUCKED Alcide, all the while you were FUCKING Lorena? You no longer have the right to question what I do and who I do it with." The traitorous tears fell from my eyes as his betrayal sank in once more and I looked up at him asking, "How could you? Did you _ever_ love me?" He opened his mouth to respond, but I held up my hand saying, "Don't bother. It doesn't matter anymore."

I listened to the muffled sounds of Alcide and Debbie's fight as I gingerly pulled myself to my feet. I couldn't help but notice the similarities their relationship had with my own with Bill. They seemed to be just as bad for one another as Bill and I.

Once I was standing I pulled on the coat I'd been wearing earlier and hobbled over to Eric who had at least had the decency to face the wall while Bill and I had our 'discussion'. I put my hand in his causing him to look down at me and the sadness in his eyes at seeing my tears almost broke me completely.

He gave my hand a gentle squeeze of support and it helped me steel my resolve as I said to him, "Take me home."

"Of course, now?" His eyes were softened but I could see the pride in them as well.

"Yes." I pulled the keys to the Lincoln from my pocket and handed them to him. We walked together, hand in hand, out of the apartment and into the elevator. Bill didn't follow and I didn't look back.

* * *

Meg here- For those of you who are wondering, yes, we will be going into Dead to the World and what will be season 4. Amnesia!Eric will appear in both stories, although how Eric comes to be cursed in the TB!Verse will be a bit more of a mystery. Rest assured, darling readers, we have a plan. *evil laugh* As of now, I believe the next chapter will conclude the events of True Blood's season finale and Club Dead's storyline. Chapter 6 should see us progressing into Amnesia!Eric territory. *hyperventilates* OMG can you imagine TWO shower scenes in one chapter? *dies* Gah! Stay tuned, kids, we're just getting to the good stuff!

Thanks for reading *naked Viking hugs*


	5. When It Isn't Like It Should Be

Hi Everybody! I want to apologize on behalf of Meg and myself for the delay in posting this chapter. I won't bore you with excuses and hope you'll let us make it up to you with the gigantic size this chapter turned out to be (over 13K words so be prepared!). And we'd also like to thank everyone for their alerts, faves, and reviews. We're really blown away by it all. See you down below!

* * *

Chapter 5: When It Isn't Like It Should Be

_SVM!Sookie_

Alcide and I sat at the bar, him with a beer and me with a glass of water. I really didn't think throwing alcohol on top of the day I was already having was a good idea. Although I might have considered staking Russell for a gin and tonic at that point. It surprised me to see Alcide's aloof attitude toward the vampire that was burnt to a crisp, tied to a stripper pole behind us, considering how cordial he'd been to him in the past. It was just another reminder of how messed up things were.

"So, what are you doing here, Alcide?" I asked him with as cheerful a smile as I could muster.

"Eric called me. He said needed my help, and this would be the last thing I had to do to erase my Dad's debt to him." He sipped his beer.

"Well, with the day I've had, I'm just glad you're here. How's Janice?" I asked.

While I wasn't quite sure what I thought of Alcide, I liked his sister. She'd been nothing but sweet to me. Sure, she thought I was going to be one to help him get over that sleazy girlfriend of his, but after those few run-ins I had with Debbie Pelt I could understand why Janice wanted her brother to move on. I wondered if Debbie was just as big of a bitch here as she was where I came from. The more I thought about it, the more I figured I wasn't dreaming. This had to be some sort of alternate reality I was in.

I didn't get much time to ponder it since Alcide started talking a blue streak about Janice, and then he even apologized for what Debbie had done to me. I sat there quiet as a church mouse to let him speak, since I had a feeling she'd done some much worse than just be rude to me. I was right. Turns out she'd tried to kill me when I'd gone to save Bill from Russell. Okay, so I'd had a hand in the death of her lover, a werewolf aligned with Russell, whose name was Cooter, of all things. Was everything in this reality so crazy?

I thought about the woman I'd met in the "dream" I'd had, and wondered if I hadn't been pulled into yet another reality. The "dream" felt far too vivid to just be a dream. When I'd woken up, it had felt like I'd been slammed back into my body. None of it was making a whole lot of sense. I decided then and there that I had to stop trying to compare notes, at least for the moment, and focus on where I was. I had to focus on the things I knew to be true in those moments.

"Alcide, can I ask you a question?"

"Just did." He smirked at me.

"Ha. Ha." I rolled my eyes. I really was short on patience and quick on temper.

"Knock yourself out." He sipped more of his beer.

"Did Bill try to kill me?" I came right out with it, seeing no reason to beat around the bush. Alcide coughed and sputtered, clearly not expecting to ask the question I did.

Russell was making all sorts of noises behind us, and all it took was me glaring at that silly jar 'o Talbot to get him to pipe down. Alcide looked at me with concern in his eyes, mixed with a bunch of sympathy. I figured that couldn't be good.

"Bill nearly drained you in the back of my van after you, Tara and me all risked our asses to save his. I don't know what you're doing protecting him like you do, but he's going to get you killed one of these days. Vampires are bad news." He shook his head.

"Are you saying that because you're a Were, or because you really think I'm in danger?" There was a definitely distinction between the two, and Alcide genuinely seemed to have my best interests at heart.

Alcide paused to consider for a second and said, "Bill will kill you if you're not careful. He's already proven he can't control himself around you. I know he was injured when he attacked you, but that's not really an excuse. If he loves you as much as he claims to, then that should have superseded his need for blood."

"And Eric?" I had to know if my gut was right about trusting Eric.

"Eric has no reason to help you other than he wants to. He went out of his way to make sure you were covered while you were in Mississippi. He was willing to forgive a very sizeable debt in exchange for me protecting you. I don't know what you know about vamps, but they don't extend protection to just any human. You have to have some sort of value to them. The way he talks about you suggests it's not about your ability, or what your blood tastes like- assuming he's had your blood. It's about you." Alcide looked almost reluctant to make such admissions.

I knew I was blushing. Here I'd always thought Eric's interest in me ranked in exactly two ways. First, he wanted to have sex with me. Second, he wanted to harness my ability for his own use. Oh, and a third? He wanted to have _more_ sex with me. But the more I thought about it, the more I thought of all the little things Eric did for me he didn't have to. I knew the Eric I was dealing with now wasn't the same as the one I was used to, but there was something about this new Eric I was sure I could trust. I could see it in his eyes.

"Just promise me that whatever you do, you'll be smart about it." Alcide said when I stayed quiet.

I nodded my assent just as the employee's only door burst open, and Eric came strolling out in a track suit that made me work overtime to swallow the drool that was pooling in my mouth. My Eric was more a jeans and leather sort of fellow, but the tracksuit was working just fine. It took some serious wrangling of my mental faculties before I could process anything that was being said to me.

Bill came to stand at my side protectively, like I was on the verge of being attacked. Alcide and Bill stared one another down while Eric got Russell ready to go wherever he was being taken. Pam issued a warning that under no circumstances was Eric to bring Russell back into the bar. Eric dragged Russell across the floor by the silver chain around the older vampire's neck.

"If you two are finished eyefucking each other, we have business, Bill." Eric said as he passed us.

Bill hissed at Alcide, which was just stupid. "Sookie, if you will wait for me, there are things we must discuss when this is all over."

I looked past Bill to Eric, who was standing at the door looking mighty bored. "I need to go home and get cleaned up, but you can stop by when you're through." I agreed, if only because there were things I needed to know, and I wanted to give him a piece of my mind for treating me the way he had.

Bill leaned forward to kiss me, but I dodged out of the way. He looked properly wounded, but then turned to follow Eric out of the bar. Alcide stood as well, and when he reached out to give me a hug, I let him.

"You take care of yourself, Sookie Stackhouse." He kissed my cheek gently, the scruff on his cheeks scratching my own.

He was so warm, and he smelled incredible. "I will. Next time you're in town, look me up?"

He nodded with a smile, and then followed the vampires out of the bar. I didn't know where Pam had gone off to and since Ginger had disappeared as well, I figured it was as good a time as any to head home. Then I realized I didn't have a way to get there. I'd seen my car outside earlier, but I didn't have the keys for it. Maybe my purse was in Eric's office? I really didn't want to go back to the basement to find my keys. They had to be around somewhere, though.

Ginger came back a moment later, toting a small purse with her. "Pam asked me to give you this, and to remind you to stay out of trouble." The cheerfulness on that woman's face should have been illegal.

"Thanks, I'll try." I took the purse from her and started to go through it.

I found a wallet with my driver's license in it, and paused to look at the picture. The Sookie Stackhouse staring back at me resembled me, but it wasn't me. What the hell? The height measurement was the same, but the weight was certainly different. I outweighed this other Sookie by a good thirty pounds. Didn't other me ever eat? I gasped when I realized her eyes were brown. My head spun while I tried to make sense of things. It was coming together slowly for me. This had to be the other Sookie Claudine was referring to in that dream I had. Did this mean I really was in another dimension? Cheese and rice, no one was ever going to believe a crackpot story like that!

I continued to dig through the purse and found a few other items that looked like they were mine. Most importantly, I found my keys. I grinned, pulled the keys from the bag and headed out. The drive home was the most normal part of my night. I thought about the predicament I was in as I drove, trying to figure out a way to get myself back where I belonged. If I was here, then where was the other Sookie? Surely people were going to start asking as many questions as I was. But then I turned onto the street I'd traveled so many times, and a familiar sense of calm washed over me as I drove down Hummingbird Lane. When I pulled into the driveway, I felt nothing but relief. That is, until I realized the lights were on. There was also an unfamiliar car parked out front, which was strange since I always parked around back.

For a moment, I let myself get my hopes up that in _this_ reality, Gran was still alive. I squeezed my eyes closed when the image of her lying dead on the kitchen floor flooded my brain. I couldn't think about that now. I grabbed the purse on the seat next to me and went through it again to see if there was a cell phone inside. I was relieved to find there was. I scrolled through the contacts to see what my options were if I needed to call for help.

I was a bit disappointed to see Eric's number wasn't stored in the phone. He would have been my first choice of contacts, even if he was currently busy with Russell. I did see a number for Fangtasia, but I doubted Pam was going to hustle on over to save me if I needed help. The other options were Tara, Sam, Jason, Hoyt and Lafayette. My heart skipped a beat at the sight of Lafayette's name. The Lafayette I knew was dead. Did this mean he wasn't dead here? I put that on the list of things to find out later.

If there was some sort of supernatural creature in the house, my best bet was to call Fangtasia and pray Pam would send someone. Jason was the closer option, but since it was after dark there was the high probability he was already half drunk and latched onto some hussy for the evening. Besides, he was no match for a werewolf, as strong as he might be. I could at least take some comfort in knowing it wasn't a vampire in my house, since the only vampires with an invitation into my home were Bill, Eric, Pam and Chow. The thought of Chow made me shudder. There was no love lost between us, and that suited me just fine.

Then again, this wasn't my world, and if the other me was stupid enough to take back a vampire who nearly drained her, then there was no way of knowing what might be waiting for me in my house. I kept my thumb hovering over the send button on the cell phone so I could call for help. I tried not to make any noise as I crept up to the back porch. There was no one in the kitchen, but that didn't mean anything. I slipped the key into the lock, and tensed up when I realized the door wasn't locked. Someone was definitely inside. I let my mind fall wide open to see if I could tell who might be inside. I heard the jumbled thoughts of what sounded like a very troubled woman. She wasn't dangerous, from all I could gather, but there was nothing familiar about her brain.

Who the hell was in my house?

I stepped inside and called out to see what sort of response I'd get. "I'm home!"

A few seconds later there were footsteps on the stairs. I grabbed Gran's heavy old rolling pin and clutched it like a baseball bat just in case. A black woman with big hair I didn't know came into the room and I screamed.

"Who the hell are you?" I swung the rolling pin at her.

She jumped out of the way lightning quick. "Fuck, Sook! Put that damn thing down before you hurt someone!"

"Who. Are. You?" I demanded a second time, tightening my grip on the pin.

"You know who I am. I been your best friend since we was just little kids." Her hand flew up to cover her mouth. "Oh, sweet Jesus. They finally scrambled your brain like an egg, didn't they? I told you to stay away from those bloodsucking motherfuckers!"

"My brain is just fine, thankyouverymuch!" I yelled at the woman, even if that might have been a tiny stretch of the truth. "Who are you, and what are you doing in my house?"

"I'm Tara." She said slowly, making sure to enunciate everything she said. "Tara Thornton. Your best friend and roommate."

"What the..." The room suddenly felt like it was spinning. I shook my head violently.

No way was that Tara. First of all, I knew Tara's brain, and this wasn't it. Second of all, the Tara I knew was white. The woman standing before most definitely wasn't white.

"No, you're not Tara." I continued to shake my head.

"Of course I am!" She reached forward and took the rolling pin away from me. "You remember second grade in Mrs. Finstad's class?"

"What the hell does that have to do with you _not_ being Tara?"

"You're the one who stopped Cindy Jo from being taken into the bathroom by the dirty old pervert when we went to that paper mill in Monroe." Tara told me.

I gasped. The only ones who knew about that were Tara and Miss Finstad. "Tara?" My jaw dropped.

"Yeah, it's me. Shit, Sook, what's wrong witchu?" She looked me up and down, then did a little gasping of her own. "Your eyes!"

"What about 'em?" I asked defensively.

"Bitch, you know you always had brown eyes. Now they're blue. What the fuck is up with that?" She stepped closer to inspect me. She sniffed me, for crying out loud.

"Tara," I started, feeling weird for calling her that when nothing about her screamed familiar to me. "I would try to explain it, but I don't know how."

She looked at me all confused, and I couldn't blame her. The images in her mind were horrifying. She was scared I really had been damaged by vampires. She was thinking I'd been glamoured into insanity. She had black holes in her brain, suggesting she'd been glamoured a time or two herself. I saw Franklin Mott in her mind, and a sexual scene I didn't want to see. I saw her tied up, abused and pleading with Bill to save her.

I gasped and said, "My God, Tara, what happened to you?"

Her lower lip quivered. When she reached for my hand, and that only made it easier to read her mind. She nodded to me, the look in her eyes saying she wanted me to take a tour of her head. The things she showed me were horrific, at best, and I felt terribly for her. I'd seen my share of brutality and violence in the last few months, but in a lot of ways it didn't compare to what this poor woman had been through. When I'd seen enough, I let go of her hands and pulled her into a hug.

I cried along with her. She wasn't my Tara, but it didn't matter. To her, I was her Sookie. She needed me. We stayed that way for a while before locating a pie in the fridge. We sat down together to eat while we talked about things. She caught me up on what had been happening at Merlotte's, which was startling. I knew Sam had siblings, but I'd never met them. I was even more shocked to learn Sam's parents had put him up for adoption. My Sam had never mentioned that to me. I had to remind myself for the millionth time I wasn't in Kansas anymore.

Tara abruptly stood up and said, "Sook, I have some things I have to take care."

"Sure." I nodded. I wanted to tell her I'd be there when she got back, but I didn't know if I would or not.

"Look, I know we don't see eye to eye about Bill-"

"Don't worry about it, Tara. Bill and I are finished."

"I heard that before." She looked at me with disbelief, and I was treated to the imagine of myself laying lifelessly in the back of Alcide's van with Bill on top of me, sucking the very life from my neck.

"I mean it this time. It's a done deal." I said with determination.

Tara nodded, still not believing what I was saying. "I hope that's true. Just promise me you'll be careful around him."

"I promise." I accepted another hug from Tara, then watched as she walked away from me.

I walked around the house, amazed it was put back together like it was after that Supernatural Woodstock happened inside it. I would have to ask Eric just what the hell happened here. Then again, I didn't see him in Tara's memories until she was in Russell's house, and even then, it was only glimpses of him. But Bill, on the other hand, had a chance to help my best friend and he turned his back on her. How could he be so cruel? Poor Tara was beyond terrified she wasn't going to survive what she was going through, and Bill just washed his hands of her like her life didn't matter.

I made my way down the hall to my bedroom, only to find it was still filled with Gran's things. A sadness filled me with the realization she was just as gone in this reality as she was in my own. I missed her terribly. I looked across the hall, but it was just a guest room. I headed upstairs to what used to be my bedroom- and in this reality, still was- and took in the destruction there. I was in need of a new door and window. Now. I had no idea what had happened, exactly, but that was one of the things I planned to find out from Bill. I was nervous about having him in my house. The only real protection I had was knowing I could rescind his invitation at any point, and there was nothing he could do about it. I made my way to the bathroom and got the shower started.

I pulled off my clothes and looked at myself in the mirror. There was blood dried on me where Russell had bitten me hours before. If it weren't for Bill's blood, I would be all bruised up. I knew I should be grateful to him on some level, but it was hard to feel it when I knew it was only because of him that I'd been put in the position I was in the first place. I didn't know the circumstances of how I'd come to know Eric. Maybe I'd gone to Fangtasia to clear Jason's name just like I had in my "other life." There were so many things I didn't know about the Sookie everyone seemed to be used to.

I got under the water and let it beat at the muscles in my back. I didn't realize how sore I was feeling until just then. I braced myself against the cool tiles on the wall and let the hot water work its magic. I let my mind go completely blank. I took deep breaths and tried to relax. I took my time getting cleaned up. I breathed in the familiar scent of my soaps, and watched as the suds swirled down my tan legs to the bottom of the tub and down the drain. By the time I was all done, I felt like a new woman.

I wrapped my hair in a towel and slipped into my robe. I went across the hall to my bedroom and looked through the drawers in search of an old t-shirt to sleep in. I didn't see a single one. Instead there were cutsie little nightgowns to choose from. I picked one that was the same shade of blue as Eric's eyes. I stopped when I realized I made that comparison and laughed at myself. I slipped on the nightgown and a pair of fresh underwear. I'd always felt like there was nothing I couldn't handle if I had underwear on. Where I got that notion, I couldn't tell you.

Just as I was getting downstairs, there was a knock at the front door. I could see Bill standing there waiting for me. I pulled my robe around me a bit tighter before going to open the door for him. He stood there looking anxious, like maybe I wasn't really going to let him inside. Let me tell you, my gut was screaming at me to keep him on the porch. I'd never seen a vampire with the jitters before that moment. It was unsettling, to say the least.

"Come in, Bill." I said against my better judgment.

He nodded and stepped inside. I gestured for him to take a seat in the living room. He went to the arm chair near the fireplace, which I was thankful for since I definitely was in no mood to curl up in his lap and have a nice leisurely chat. I had a lot of questions, but he looked to be in a confessing mood, so I let him take the lead in the conversation.

He started rambling off an apology for the way he'd treated me and for letting me down so often. His tone suggested he felt genuinely sorry for all he'd done to hurt me. While I appreciated that, I wasn't sure I could forgive him just yet, and I told him as much.

"Sookie, I will do whatever you require of me to regain your confidence. In spite of all that has happened, you must know that I do love you. I love you as I have never loved another."

"So much that you cheated on me? So much that you nearly _drained_ me? How could you do those things, Bill?" I shook my head slowly.

"I didn't have a choice, Sookie-"

"You _always_ have a choice, Bill." I glared at him. He exhaled a breath that was unnecessary. "You could have refused Lorena, but you didn't. You could have stopped yourself from draining me, but you didn't. There's a whole lot of things you _could_ have done differently, but you didn't. You betrayed me. You sold me out to the very people who you told me were dangerous- who you said you were protecting me from. Why?"

He didn't seem to have an answer. His mouth hung open while he tried to find the words. When too much time had gone by, I stood up and said, "I think it's best that you go now, Bill."

"Sookie, please wait." He used his vampire speed to get in front of me. "I won't ask you to forgive me. I know that is something you must do in your own time. But I do hope that someday, you will understand I never meant to hurt you. I will never love another as I have fallen in love with you."

The misery in his eyes was a little heartbreaking. While I might not have understood it all, I couldn't help but feel a little bit of sympathy for him. I knew he didn't deserve it. He'd put himself in the position he was in. I was just about to reach for the door, when it blew open. Eric was standing there on the porch, looking like he was covered in mud.

"Eric, what happened to you?"

Eric ignored my question, and in an eerily calm voice asked, "Do you think she'll forgive you if she knew why you really came back here, Bill?"

I looked from one vampire to another. "What's he talking about, Bill?"

"Do you think she'll forgive you if she knows you let those white trash drainers beat her within an inch of her life so you could get your blood inside her the night you met?" Eric picked something out of his hair.

I looked at Bill who looked like he was going to be sick. I thought back to the night the Rattrays had caught me out in the parking lot. Bill was late meeting me. I'd always thought it was a little strange. I remembered every kick, punch and slap they'd delivered. I remembered the blood they spilled and the extreme pain I'd suffered as a result of the beating I'd taken. I would have died that night if Bill hadn't given me his blood. I felt my stomach turn. I was prepared to ask Bill if it was true, but Eric wasn't finished yet.

"Do you think she'll forgive you if she knows you were sent here by the queen of Louisiana to procure her for the queen's personal service?"

"Bill?" I kept my eyes trained on the vampire who had just professed his love for me.

"He tried to silence me tonight so you would never know." Eric picked more of whatever that gray gunk was off his body.

"Bill, is this true?" I stared hard at him. The look in his eyes said it all. "Get out of my house."

"Sookie, no!" He shouted as mystical force propelled him out of the house. He grabbed onto the door frame and held on. "I love you. You must understand-"

"I don't have to do a damn thing! And don't you dare say you love me! You never loved me. It was all a lie. I don't ever want to see you again, do you hear me? Don't come over. Don't call me. Don't hang out in the woods. Don't show your face at Merlotte's. We're through."

"Sookie-"

"I rescind your invitation!" I screamed in his face, and he flew back, landing hard on the dirt path that led to the porch.

"I want my phone back." Eric looked over at Bill.

Bill made another one of those stupid hissing sounds that got on my nerves, and then disappeared into the night. My eyes swung over to Eric who managed to look miserable and sexy as ever. I stared him up and down, wondering just what in blazes was all over him.

"And you. Did you know all this from the beginning?"

"I only found out after you escaped from Russell's. We went to see the Queen in attempts to convince her to accept Russell's marriage proposal. I knew Russell was interested in you, only I didn't know why. I assumed his interest in you went beyond your telepathic nature. It took some convincing and I did feed on your cousin to loosen the queen's lips, but I eventually learned all I needed to know. Hadley was the one who told me."

Hadley was the reason I was in all this mess? She was the one who ratted me out to the queen? I felt a murderous rage start to boil my blood. Even if Bill was sent on the queen's orders, he had no right to use me like he did. He'd lied to me for months and months. He let me believe he loved me. He tricked me into falling in love with him. It was all a lie. Everything I ever felt for him... if it was true my feelings for Eric could be enhanced by taking his blood, why couldn't the same be said for Bill?

"Why should I trust you? It seems to me like all of you are in this for yourselves. What makes you different?" I stared up at Eric, who had closed the gap between us.

"Because I have never made you a promise I wouldn't keep." He lowered his face to mine. "And because you feel it in your bones." My breath caught in my throat, and before I could ask how he knew that, he said, "I can feel it in my blood- your blood. _Our_ blood." He touched my cheek. Whatever was on his fingertips was rough.

"What is that all over you?"

"Cement." He said with a tone of indifference.

"Cement?" My jaw hung open.

"After we disposed of Russell, Bill tried to do the same with me. He tried to silence me so you would never know of his betrayal. He buried me in cement." He was a little too nonchalant about the whole thing. I knew that tone. It sounded level headed, but underneath was a seething malice just waiting to be unleashed.

The Bill I knew wasn't capable of such a thing. Well, maybe he was, but he was smart enough to know Eric was much older, and therefore much stronger. This new Bill was obviously not quite so bright.

"Would that really kill you?"

"It was a nuisance. Pam is particularly unhappy at the moment since I had to summon her to come fish me out. I expect Bill will be treated to a visit from her shortly." There was that evil Grinch grin on his face I knew so well, and probably shouldn't have found to be such a turn-on.

"Would you like to come in and get cleaned up?" I asked.

I really didn't want to be alone. I had more questions for Eric, and I wanted to know more about the things he knew. I wasn't quite sure how to process what I'd just learned about Bill. There was a part of me that wanted to scream, cry and throw a tantrum the likes of which the world had never seen before. On the other hand, that wasn't really my Bill. The Bill I knew wasn't capable of something so sinister and evil. Yes, he'd done things to hurt me and disappoint me, but nothing like this.

Still, it seemed for my own safety, it was in my best interest to stay away from Bill. If this other Sookie was too weak to kick him to the curb herself, I just did her a huge favor. I had to shake my head at what "I" was thinking by letting him back into my life after he nearly killed me. What the hell was wrong with the other me? Was I really that desperate to be loved by someone? And what had _this_ Eric done to make the other me so leery of trusting him? I told myself it would be best if I didn't let myself be alone in my house. Since there wasn't a Bubba that could be parked out back in the woods, I would have to trust that Eric would keep me safe.

"Are you sure you want to let me in?" The choice of words combined with the intensity in Eric's eyes had me wondering if he wasn't just talking about an invitation into my home.

I thought it over for a moment before saying, "Yes, I'm sure."

The corner of Eric's mouth lifted just a fraction of an inch before he stepped inside. I closed the door behind him and made sure to throw the bolt over. Not that a locked door was really going to keep out any sort of Supe who was determined to get in. I lead Eric to the downstairs bathroom and turned on the light, not that he needed it. He'd be able to find his way around in the pitch dark with no problems.

"You go on ahead and get cleaned up. There are towels under the sink." I pointed to the sink like he didn't know what it was.

"Thank you, Sookie." He stooped down and gently kissed my temple.

A naughty little voice in the back of my head wanted to offer to get in the shower with him to scrub those hard to reach areas, but I managed to keep that voice in check. I had other things to think about besides what Eric looked like naked, although none of them were so much fun. I left Eric alone in the bathroom and went to the kitchen to get water started for tea. I wasn't the least bit surprised to see there was no True Blood I the fridge.

I was sitting at the table, drinking my tea, when I heard the water finally shut off in the bathroom. Eric had been in there for quite a while, but I imagine getting cement off your skin is probably a pretty brutal process. I had just remembered Eric didn't have clean clothes to wear, when he appeared before me with a towel wrapped around his hips. At least he'd had the decency not to walk into my kitchen stark naked. Still the view I was treated to was enough to get my libido in an upright and begging position like a little puppy wanting a treat.

Eric leered at me, clearly feeling it in my blood. "See something you like, Sookie?"

I cleared my throat and shook my head. "I can wash your clothes for you, but I'm afraid I don't have anything your size laying around. Jason is considerably smaller than you."

Eric smirked and said, "Most men are."

I blushed at the realization he was speaking of very specific parts of his anatomy. "Well, I'll just go get your clothes and get them started in the wash for you." I started to move past him, but his hand shot out and held my arm. His skin was soft and smooth again.

"I need you to know that I never would have given you over to Russell." Eric said with great sincerity in his voice, and a depth to his eyes I'd never seen before.

The way he looked at me had something in my chest aching. When he leaned down to kiss me again, I couldn't find the strength to fight him off. I let him kiss me, and before I knew it, I was returning that kiss. My toes curled as I melted against him. He lifted me easily and set me down on the kitchen counter so the height difference between us was a little less severe. The skirt of my nightgown was pushed up, and Eric took full advantage of my parted knees. He stood between them like he belonged there. My hands slid down from his perfect chest to his hips, and I breathed an internal sigh of relief when I realized the towel was still around his waist.

What set off some alarm bells was the tenting in front of the towel. But then my tongue grazed one of Eric's fangs, and he hissed. I stopped for a moment, afraid I'd done something wrong. I knew a vampire's fangs were sensitive. I worried I'd hurt him, and pulled back to see an almost bloodlusty stare coming right at me. I whimpered, then held on for dear life when his lips crashed down on mine again. The towel fell in the frenzy we were caught up in, only I didn't know it until he pulled me closer to the edge of the counter.

I felt a part of him I'd never felt before pressed against the inside of my thigh, and I gasped. Was I going to have sex with Eric right there in my Gran's kitchen? I tried to tell myself it was time to stop, that we'd gone far enough. If I had sex with Eric, there would be no turning back, and I didn't want him thinking he owned me just because of it.

But then his hand ran up my thigh, and pushed my panties aside. I froze at the feeling of his long, cool finger against my hot, slick flesh. He groaned against my neck, dragging his fangs along the pulse point there. He teased my nub while he sucked on my skin, before letting one of his fingers slip inside me. I cried out, unexpecting the pleasure it brought me. My hips moved of their own accord, trying to get more of him.

Before I could stop myself, my hands were fixed on the solid muscle that was his butt. I'd never seen it before, but if the feel of it was any indication, it was easily one of the best butts in the world. I froze just a little when I realized how close we were to really having sex on the counter, and I had to pull back.

"Eric, wait..." I gasped for air. He released my neck, but his finger continued to glide in and out of me. Clearly, he wasn't giving up just yet. "We can't do this. We can't have sex on my kitchen counter."

"Why not?" He purred against my ear.

I grabbed his wrist, and he allowed me to stop him. My body screamed at me for being a fool. _Let him finish what he started, you idiot!_, my body was protesting against my brain big time, but I was stronger than the lust I was feeling.

"Because it's not right. I don't want to have sex with you just because I'm scared, lonely and confused."

"Then do it because you want me." Eric nipped at my neck, making me shudder, and he started to move his hand again.

I cried out, so close to that golden edge that I hadn't tumbled over in so long. Against my better judgment, I let him finish his ministrations, and I wasn't disappointed. I gripped his shoulders tightly while my legs wrapped around his waist to hold him close. I almost told him to bite me, but decided that would open a whole other can of worms I just wasn't ready to deal with.

"You are magnificent, Sookie." His praise made my heart sing for reasons I wasn't sure of. He feathered kisses on my neck and face, but then backed away.

"What...where are you..." I trailed off, dazed and still coming down from my high.

"When I fuck you, it will be because you ask me to." His towel was back in place.

I sat there shaking on the counter, trying to process what had just happened while Eric went to put the clothes in the washer into the dryer. If someone had told me I was going to end my day with a naked Viking Vampire in my Gran's kitchen, debating over whether or not I wanted to have sex with him, I would have thought they were crazy.

"I think I'm going to bed." I slipped off the counter when Eric came back into the room. "I'm sorry I don't have any True Blood, but you're welcome to stay until your clothes are dry."

Eric nodded and said, "Thank you, Sookie."

"You're welcome." His manners, when he chose to use them, always impressed me.

We stared at one another for a moment, but I scurried away before my body could decide to invite him to bed with me.

* * *

_TB!Sookie_

It wasn't until Eric and I were in the car and on our way back home when he finally spoke.

"Sookie, when I got to the parking garage I could see a bright light glowing from inside the trunk right before Bill's body shot up into the air." He turned to look at me and I wanted to tell him to watch where he was driving, but I knew it was pointless and the intensity of his stare made me stay quiet. "That light was coming from your hands. How did you do that?" His words had gotten progressively softer as he spoke and I was sure if I hadn't had his blood the night before I never would have heard him.

I figured I'd better be honest with him considering the fact that he was the only person that knew I wasn't the same Sookie everyone else thought I was. "I'm not sure what it is exactly, but I think it must be a fairy power or something. I can't control it and it only seems to happen when I feel really threatened."

Eric's eyes continued to bore into my own before I couldn't stand it anymore and looked down at my fidgeting hands when I heard him say, "I could feel your terror while I made my way to Alcide's. I could feel your energy leaving you as I approached and then your terror spiked again. It was obvious that he tried to drain you, but something _more_ happened."

I continued to stare at my hands unable to look at Eric as I remembered all too well the terror I'd felt when Bill tried to rape me. As crazy as it seemed, I knew _logically_ that I was in some alternate reality to my real life and that everyone here was just a little bit different. But at the same time, everyone was very similar as well. I couldn't wrap my mind around whether or not the Bill _I_ knew would be capable of the same attack. Had Alcide and Tara unknowingly saved me from a very similar fate when they found Bill draining me? Would _my Bill_ have gone on and raped me?

The sound of Eric's voice pulled me out of my internal musings when he said, "Sookie." I looked over at him to see he was looking at the highway in front of us and I noticed his grip on the steering wheel was so tight it was starting to bend with his fingers. He surprised me by making a very human gesture of reaching over and taking one of my hands in his own and rubbing soothing circles with his thumb before he asked, "Did Bill force himself on you?"

I was proud of my ability to swallow the sob that threatened to leave my throat, but the few stray tears that leaked from my eyes was unavoidable when I said, "He tried. And if it wasn't for that freaky light that shoots out of my hands he _would have_, but he didn't get the chance."

Eric surprised me again when he sighed in relief. I wondered how _close_ this Eric and the other Sookie were for him to be so concerned about my well being. I mean, I knew _my Eric_, was concerned about me, but mostly because he wanted to fuck me and taste my blood. I guessed that statement wasn't really fair though considering what he'd said to me before he kissed me. If only I'd had a chance to explore the subject with him more. But _this Eric_ seemed different, less crude maybe?

All of the differences and similarities running through my mind made me ask, "How did we meet?"

I watched Eric's eyebrow rise up in a 'you must be kidding' fashion, but I most certainly wasn't kidding. "Don't look at me like I'm crazy! _Everything_ since I came to on that barroom floor has been crazy so I'm wondering what's different and what's the same."

He studied me for a moment before saying, "Fair enough. We met at Fangtasia when you came in with _Bill_ trying to find out who killed the fangbangers your brother was being looked at for." His eyes softened when he continued, "You were beautiful, wearing a white dress with red flowers, like a light shining in a pit of darkness."

I couldn't stop staring at him with my mouth hanging open in disbelief. His description of me, or _other me_, was so heartfelt and tender. If I hadn't heard him say the words I would've never been able to imagine them being said by Eric Northman. I must have stared too long for his liking though because he asked, "What? Is that not the same thing that happened in your memory?"

"N-no, it is," I stammered. I decided to put that little tidbit away to think about later and plowed on. We talked nonstop going back and forth over the details as we remembered them. According to Eric, _he_ was the one to stake Long Shadow, not Bill. And there was no Jessica since Eric was the one to end him and he'd only had to make a financial settlement with Long Shadow's maker.

The maenad _here_ was named Callisto, not Maryann, and she'd never taken over the whole town or my house. But _here_ Lafayette had been murdered and Eric had gone with _other me_ to an orgy of all things so I could find out who killed him. Eric enjoyed my reaction to his description of what we'd been wearing and how he'd attempted to get me to _yield_ to him on the hood of his Corvette. It was nice to see that some things hadn't changed. Also, apparently 'other me' had blue eyes and about 30 pounds on me. I couldn't imagine being 30 pounds heavier, but Eric assured me that my curves were delectable and suggested that I eat more. _Men._

Dallas was a whole other mess and _this Eric's_ maker wasn't someone named Godric, but Appius something or other. I kept wondering how in the hell things could be so similar and so different. We finally ran out of things to compare by the time we got to the stake in my side and we each sat there silently contemplating everything we'd been told by the other.

I was in the middle of remembering when Bill staked Long Shadow when Eric interrupted my thoughts. It was the first time I'd felt valued by him. He'd _killed_ someone to keep me safe and it was a turning point in our relationship as to how I felt about him. Now I wondered how differently I would've viewed it if it had been Eric instead that had saved me. Would I have looked at _him_ differently?

"Had it occurred to you that you tend to walk away when things between you and Bill become rocky? Not that I mind, necessarily, since I would be glad for you two to sever your association. But if this is the pattern you follow in your romantic attachments, I want to know now."

_Fucking excuse me?_ "Who in the hell do you think you are? Doctor fucking Phil? Things between Bill and I aren't _rocky_. He almost RAPED ME. I was able to overlook a lot of shit in the past, but not THAT. Especially since he knew…" I let the statement trail off as I tried to get my breathing under control and hold back the tears that threatened to spill out again. _Asshole!_

I sat pressed against the passenger door as far away from Eric as I could, staring out at the dark countryside when I heard him whisper, "I'm sorry."

Those were two words I'd never thought I'd hear coming from Eric Northman's mouth and I couldn't resist looking over at him and asking, "What did you say?"

He took a deep breath and looked me right in the eye as he repeated, "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have been so callous about what you've been through. I _felt_ your terror then and I _feel_ your pain now. Only _this_ time it was _my_ words that caused you pain. I don't like it. I don't like having _feelings,_" he huffed.

I tempered the urge to mock the big bad Sheriff of Area 5 for, _God forbid_, having _feelings_ and instead was overcome with the urge to make _him_ feel better so I said, "You're forgiven. And as far as 'romantic attachments' go, Bill is the only guy I've ever dated so I have no idea of whether or not this is a _pattern._"

I could see his point though. My temper was quick to make me storm off whenever things got rocky with Bill and I in the past. I'd even left him sitting at the table after he'd proposed to me and ran off to the bathroom without ever giving him an answer. Maybe I _did_ tend to run away. Maybe that was my subconscious telling me that I needed to get away from Bill.

I wondered what Eric's feelings were for me, or other me. Was it more than just a feed and a fuck that he wanted from me/us? Did he actually _value_ me/us as something more than just an asset? I wanted to ask him, but at the same time I was terrified of his answers. I couldn't imagine that the blond egotistical Adonis seated next to me would actually _want_ me for me and I had to admit hearing him saying it out loud would hurt more than just my ego. I'd always felt a connection to Eric and if he told me that he felt otherwise it would add to my plethora of internal scars.

Just as frightening was the chance that he _did_ have feelings for me/us. Could I _let_ myself trust that I would be enough for him? Was he capable of being monogamous? I had no problems trusting him with my life, but my _heart_ was a whole other matter. I decided to just take the chicken-shit way out and not ask a damn thing.

About an hour outside of Bon Temps we took an exit because the car needed gas and I had to use the bathroom. There was another blond woman who had dark roots that walked in the door to the convenience store with me that said, "It's too cold to be sitting outside in a pick up." I glanced where she'd been looking and saw a battered Toyota parked in the shadow of the lot with two men inside having what appeared to be a heated discussion.

If I didn't have to pee so bad I would've dropped my shields to see what their problem was but my screaming bladder took priority over being nosey. Once my bladder was relieved I stared into the mirror as I washed my hands and saw that I looked like I'd been mangled by an animal. I cleaned up as best as I could with the hand soap and wet paper towels and then tried to tame the rat's nest that was my hair with my fingers, but it only made it worse.

I gave up on my appearance and stepped out of the bathroom back into the store contemplating if I wanted something sweet or salty to munch on when I noticed the two armed robbers at the front of the store.

_Mother fucker! Could this day get ANY worse?_ I ducked down and hoped that my fear and tension would alert Eric that I needed him right fucking now, but after a few minutes there was no Eric. The bastard was probably ignoring my _feelings_ because he didn't _like_ them. I made a mental note to kick his ass when I got out of here.

I dropped my shields and picked up from the clerk's thoughts that this was the fourth time he'd been robbed, third time at gun point. _Why the fuck would he still work here?_ He was wishing he could get his shotgun out from under the seat in his car so he could blast those 'sumbitches' to hell. _Now we're getting somewhere._

I looked around and noticed that there was an 'Employees Only' door farther down the aisle, but there was a gap where I'd be seen by the robbers. I dropped to my hands and knees and began crawling down the aisle towards the door as quietly as possible when one of the robbers said, "You seen a blond come in here, about this tall?"

_Fuck me!_ I couldn't see how tall 'this tall' was so I had no idea if he meant me or Eric. Then I wanted to kick myself for not _listening_ to the robbers. As soon as I did it made my skin crawl. They were here looking for _me._ They were two of many waiting at gas stations all along the route from Jackson to Bon Temps.

The clerk spoke up, "Blond woman come in here about five minutes ago, bought some cigarettes."

"Naw, that one drove off. We want the one who was with the vampire." As soon as he said the word 'vampire' I pulled an image from his mind of Eric in the parking lot covered in a silver net. I needed to get the hell out of here knowing that was burning Eric at this very moment and I discarded my 'I'm going to kick his ass' mental note.

"I didn't see no other woman," the clerk said. I glanced up and could see a security mirror and knew the clerk could see me and was doing his best to not alert them to my presence. What a good guy. I kept crawling towards the end of the aisle while the phony robbers were questioning the kid. I got to the end where there was about four feet of open space that I'd have to cross to get to the 'Employees Only' door when I heard the clerk's intention as he said, "Car pulling in."

He was lying to draw their attention in the opposite direction of where I needed to cross and I silently thanked him as I scooted across the floor to where I was hidden once more by the counter. While they debated over a faulty bell that sometimes rang when there was no car I managed to turn the doorknob and open it just wide enough for me to slip through before shutting it once more.

I dug around in the clerk's coat pocket for his car keys and walked out the back door heading straight to his old pickup. I cursed under my breath at the number of keys this kid had on his ring before I finally found one stamped GM that opened the door. I reached under the seat and pulled the shotgun out thanking God for Jason showing me how to shoot one.

I was equally scared and pissed off as I crept around the side of the building towards where Eric had been. I came to the robbers' truck when I saw a little spot on the ground reflecting in the light. Running my finger through it I saw that it was blood. I felt a red haze descend in my mind at the thought that they'd had the _nerve_ to harm Eric. To draw his _blood._

I opened the door to the truck and grabbed a pocketknife I spotted on the dash when I spotted a box for a silver mesh net and it only added to my fury. I crept along the side of the building until I came to the front. I peered around the corner and saw that the Lincoln was still parked there but no Eric.

I continued to creep along and chanced a peek over the ice machine so I could see in the store when I saw both robbers had moved to where the clerk had been standing and they were beating him. _Unfuckingacceptable._

I was about to go storming inside when I heard, "Sookie," right next to me and just about jumped out of my skin. Thankfully Eric had the forethought to cover my mouth with his hand as he was scaring the shit out of me.

"Sorry," Eric whispered. "I should have thought of a better way to let you know I was here."

"Gee, you fucking _think_ so?" I whisper shouted back as soon as he let go of my mouth. I started to move towards the front of the store when Eric put his hand out to stop me.

"What are you doing?" he asked.

"I'm going in there and opening a can of whoop ass on those two jerks inside." I mean, _really,_ what did he _think_ I was doing?

"Why?"

"Because they're beating the shit outta that kid who was the only reason I was able to sneak out of the backdoor. I'm not going to let them continue." I fixed a glare on him that said I was dead set with or without him.

"They're just opportunistic scum robbing the store. We'll anonymously call the authorities once we leave."

That reminded me. "Eric, they were here waiting for me. For us. I read it from the thoughts and there are others at every gas station from Jackson to Bon Temps. Why the fuck are they looking for me?"

His eyes turned predatory as he said, "Let's go find out." He went to take the gun from me when I said, "Back the hell off! You've got _fangs_ and I've got the shotgun."

I didn't wait for a response and ran towards the front door and through it into the store. The bell above the door was making a racket alerting them to my presence but they were too busy shouting to notice. I blasted a shot into the ceiling above their heads as my way of saying _shut the fuck up_ and they did as tiles, dust and insulation rained down on them.

I got a good look at the poor kid then and saw they'd roughed him up pretty good with a broken nose and loose teeth. The rage roiled just underneath my skin as I spit out, "Let. Him. Go."

"You gonna shoot us little lady?"

"Yep, and if you keep pissing me off, more than once." _Prick._

"And if she misses, I will get you," said the pissed off Viking Vampire Sheriff behind me. I internally squealed with delight and a part of me wondered if drinking so much of Eric's blood was giving me a form of his bloodlust. It was feeling pretty damn good at the moment.

"The vampire got loose, Sonny," said the other robber.

"I see that." He didn't look too sure of himself now and I felt a little put off knowing they feared Eric more than me.

The poor clerk finally came over to stand a little behind me saying, "I see you found my shotgun," as he passed me by. He pulled a phone from his pocket and started calling the police.

"Before the police get here, Sookie, we need to find out who sent these two imbeciles," Eric said. I was sure one of them was about to piss themselves given the tone of his voice. When Eric stepped ahead of me it was the first time I could see his face. There were crisscross burns scattered across his once perfect complexion and while I knew he would heal relatively quickly, I felt a pang inside knowing he'd been hurt at all. I set that thought aside for another day too.

"Come down here," Eric said as he stared into Sonny's eyes. He immediately walked down from the clerk's stand where he'd been standing to come to a stop in front of Eric.

"Stay," Eric commanded.

The other guy quickly squeezed his eyes shut trying to fight Eric's glamour but the sound of Eric's approach made him take a peek and that was all Eric needed.

"Who sent you here?" Eric asked using a softer tone of voice.

"One of the Hounds of Hell," Sonny answered in a monotone voice.

Eric looked rattled before asking, "What did they tell you to do?"

"They told us to wait along the interstate. There are more fellas waiting at other gas stations."

I read that there were about forty of them and a lot of cash exchanged hands.

"What were you supposed to watch for?"

"A dark guy and a tall blond guy. With a blond woman, real young, with nice tits."

Eric's hand moved so fast I didn't even know he'd hit Sonny until I saw the blood trickling down his face.

"You are speaking of my future lover. Be more respectful. Why were you looking for us?"

_Future lover?_ I guess I couldn't really dispute that fact given what went on between us the night before. My _mind_ might want to say no because really, having sex with Eric was the last thing I needed to further complicate my life, but my _body_ remembered his touch and I'd quickly learned last night that it easily took over my mind when Eric's hands were on me.

Sonny speaking again pulled me back to the present. "We were supposed to catch you. Take you back to Jackson."

"Why?"

"The gang suspected you mighta had something to do with Jerry Falcon's disappearance. They wanted to ask you some questions about it. They had someone watching some apartment building, seen you two coming out in a Lincoln, had you followed part of the way. The dark guy wasn't with you, but the woman was the right one, so we started tracking you."

"Do the vampires of Jackson know anything about this plan?"

"No, the gang figured it was their problem. But they also got a lot of other problems, a prisoner escape and so on, and lots of people out sick. So what with one thing and another, they recruited a bunch of us to help."

"What are these men?" Eric asked me.

"Pieces of shit."

Eric smirked with his eyebrow raised up in question so I added, "Human. They're just plain old human."

Eric seemed satisfied with _that_ answer so he said, "We need to get out of here." That was just fine by me.

Eric looked into Sonny's eyes and said, "We weren't here. This lady and myself."

"Just the boy," Sonny agreed.

Eric moved towards the other robber and he squeezed his eyes shut again when Eric blew on his face and he opened them just like a dog would. I was tempted to ask Eric to glamour him into believing he _was_ a dog, but I didn't think we'd have enough time for me to enjoy watching it.

Eric turned and, taking the shotgun from me, he handed it to the clerk saying, "Yours I believe."

The clerk clutched it in his hands and took aim at the two robbers saying, "Thanks. I know, you weren't here, and I ain't saying nothing to the police."

Eric left forty dollars on the counter for the gas and we raced out to the car, peeling back onto the interstate. Eric explained what had happened with Jerry Falcon and I wasn't surprised in the least that, yet again, I was off hiding dead bodies. It was really getting old. Once we'd been cruising along for a few minutes I asked, "How's your face?"

"It's getting better."

"What happened?" I couldn't fathom how they were able to sneak up on a 1000 year old vampire.

He paused before answering, "While you were tending to your human needs in the bathroom I finished putting gas in the tank. I had hung up the pump and was almost at the door when those two got out of the truck and just tossed a net over me. It is very humiliating, that they were able to do that, two fools with a silver net."

I thought back to what we had been discussing prior to getting to the gas station and knew I was mighty distracted myself pondering what relationship, if any, I had with Eric. I decided to take the chicken-shit route once more and asked, "So how did you get out of the net?"

"The heavier one hit me with the butt of his gun, and it took me a small time to recover."

"I saw the blood," I admitted. I still felt angry that they'd hurt him and it just made me even _more_ confused.

"Yes, I bled. After getting used to the pain, I snagged a corner of the net on the bumper of their truck and managed to roll out of it. They were inept in that, as well as robbery. If they had tied the net shut with silver chains, the result might have been different."

I knew it was taking a lot for him to admit any of this and I appreciated him telling me. I told him, "I saw what they'd done to you in their thoughts. I was coming out to save you, but I couldn't find you."

Eric slowly started to tense up as he asked, "So you planned to save me and the clerk, together?"

"Yeah, so?" What was the problem with that? He seemed to be constantly saving me, why couldn't I do the same?

Eric stayed silent, but the tension inside the car was thick enough to choke a horse and I felt my temper rising with every mile that passed by as we got closer to Bon Temps. I finally exploded with, "What's your problem? Why are you so pissed off now?"

Eric ignored me and took the Bon Temps exit before turning south.

Of course I couldn't let it go so I kept on poking the angry vampire. "Do you have a _problem_ with _me_ saving _you?"_

He continued to ignore me as we went through the center of town and passed Merlotte's, which was still open, and then down the small parish road before turning onto my driveway.

Eric pulled over and turned the engine off finally saying, "Yes, there _is_ something wrong with that. And why the hell don't you get your driveway fixed?"

_Oh. No. He. Didn't._ I flew out of the car, as did he, and came around until I was right in front him shouting, "Because I can't fucking afford it you asshole! You're constantly pulling me here and there doing all of your dirty work. Do you even _realize_ that when I'm off doing _your_ shit that I'm taking time off from work and not getting paid? Of course you don't you self-centered fuckwad." I started walking away mumbling, "I can't _believe_ I thought there could've been something between us."

Eric was in front of me in a flash asking, "What did you say?"

_Stupid vampires and their vampire hearing._ Can't a girl even _mumble_ to herself anymore? "I called you a fuckwad." That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

His eyes bored into my own and I just glared right back when he finally asked, "What about Bill?"

"He's a fuckwad too."

Eric smirked before saying, "Yes, he is. But I meant to ask why hasn't _he_ fixed your driveway?"

"Why in the hell _would_ he? He's never offered and I would never accept. I'm not a _kept_ woman!"

I could see the wheels still turning in Eric's head when he asked, "What happened to the money you earned in Dallas?"

Don't get me started mister. "You'd only just paid me before I ended up here. Or at least Pam did, but you paid me too much so I wasn't going to cash it until you gave me a new check for the correct amount. I planned on paying my property taxes with it."

He was still staring at me like I was a massive jigsaw puzzle in front of him that he couldn't quite figure out when I'd had enough for one day. One hell of a long ass day. I felt other brain signatures in the house and figured white Tara must be inside with maybe the Easter Bunny or a Leprechaun for all I knew. I started stomping my way up onto the porch saying, "Someone's waiting in my house, Eric," as I gratefully pulled out the key that _other me_ had hidden in the same spot.

My exhaustion from the last twenty-four hours made my shields nothing more than a flimsy piece of paper and as I opened the door I realized the brain waves I was getting were from Weres, but it was too late. I'd heard Eric starting to yell for me to stop when the door was yanked open in front of me and I was knocked to the ground.

"We got her," said one of the Weres and all I could think of was whether or not Eric had an invitation to enter _other me's_ home and I hoped it would work coming from _this me._ I quietly whispered, "Please come in Eric," as they yanked me to my feet.

"What about the vamp?"

"I shot him twice, but he's in the woods. He got away."

"That's bad news. Work fast."

As soon as I'd heard them utter the words that they'd shot Eric, all of my anger from the evening boiled inside of me and the power surged through my body and into my hands zapping the Weres that were holding me on each side. They crumpled to the ground as the big one in front of me asked, "What the fuck are you?"

I glared at him while feeling the energy flowing through me as I said, "I'm the wrong fucking bitch for you to have picked on." With that I thrust my hands forward and watched the light shoot out of my hands and into his chest, knocking him off of his feet as he flew backwards down the hallway. My whole body was glowing as I turned to face the others who held stock still in shock at what they'd witnessed.

Apparently it was long enough because in the next moment the front door crashed open as Eric, looking every bit the 1000 year old Viking Vampire Sheriff, came in with blood smeared down his front with Bill right behind him. I caught myself before I went off on Bill for being in my house, but since they were quickly doing away with every Were in the house I thought I'd wait until they were done.

It didn't take long before we were the only three left standing, but I wanted to cry when I saw the blood stains they'd left behind. Can't I just go _one week_ without having to clean up the bloody remains of someone?

Eric's face and chest were completely healed and he looked damn near rosy after feeding from the Weres while Bill stood there dejectedly staring at me like a lost puppy. He finally looked to Eric and asked, "Why were they here?"

"Jerry Falcon."

"Oh yes, I remember him from the torture room. He's first on my list."

Eric looked at me and smirked as he said, "Well you can cross him off. Alcide and Sookie disposed of his body in the woods yesterday." I almost corrected him since that had happened prior to my arrival in this weird ass world, but I managed to keep my trap shut.

"Did this Alcide kill him?" Bill glanced back at me as he asked, "Or Sookie?"

"He says no. They found the corpse in the closet of Alcide's apartment, and they hatched a plan to hide his remains." The way Eric said it was like we'd made a pillow fort together or some other cutesy thing. I was about to call him out for it when Bill said, "My Sookie hid a corpse?"

_Say what?_ Eric spoke before I could saying, "I don't think you can be too sure about that possessive pronoun."

_I must be getting delirious from lack of sleep_ I thought because this conversation is just getting ten shades of ridiculous now.

"Where did you learn that term, Northman?"

"I took 'English as a Second Language' at a community college in the seventies."

"She is mine," Bill reiterated.

"ENOUGH!" I yelled. "Did I not make myself perfectly clear William Compton? I am NOT yours. I am MY OWN and while I appreciate you helping out here tonight you can just get the fuck out now since they were only here because I was saving you _AGAIN_! I rescind your invitation!"

Bill looked shocked as his body was magically propelled out the door while Eric looked gleeful that he was a witness to it. I fixed a glare on him that said I wasn't interested in any commentary from him and he thankfully stayed quiet.

I got the bucket out from under the kitchen sink and filled it with soapy water to start cleaning up the mess while Eric went outside to "discuss body removal" with Bill before he went home. I tried not to think about it as I went about cleaning the mess.

Eric returned a short while later and found me staring at the pictures on the wall as he cryptically said, "It's taken care of."

I couldn't get over the similarities I had with _other me._ Really, other than the weight and eye color, we were identical twins. Even the extra weight on her wasn't too different than me on a Ben and Jerry's binge during my time of the month. The house itself was the same too and it both comforted me and freaked me out at the same time.

I looked up at Eric feeling completely lost and alone knowing that no one, other than him, knew who I _really_ was and I felt the tears well in my eyes thinking he was going to have to leave me soon and I'd REALLY be alone.

His eyes furrowed seeing my tears and he came to stand in front of me to wipe my tears away before wrapping his arms around me saying, "It'll be okay."

He was so much taller than me, but somehow I fit right into him like he was made for me. I pushed that thought aside to join the other ones I'd been avoiding all day long and asked him, "Would you mind staying for a bit? I don't want to be alone yet."

I felt him lean down and kiss the top of my head as he said, "Of course."

I pulled away, but kept a hold of his hand, as I toured the downstairs. Gran's old room had all of my stuff in it now and I'd wondered what was in the upstairs bedrooms now. Eric followed me around from room to room silently, letting me take my time exploring and only asking innocent questions here and there on how things were different in my world. When we checked out the spare room across from Gran's, or my, room Eric inhaled deeply while moving towards the closet.

He opened the door and inhaled again before turning to look at me and asking, "Does Bill have a light tight space here?"

"No. At least not in MY house. Maybe in THIS Sookie's house he does though."

I watched as Eric dropped to his knees and felt around on the floor of the closet before declaring, "Found it," and opening a trapdoor in the floor. It was a tight fit, but I squeezed next to Eric so we could both check it out and saw that it was, indeed, a light tight space carved out underneath the house.

But it wasn't empty. It was filled with a computer, a box of discs, and even a printer and monitor. "What are those doing there?" I asked Eric as if he'd magically know.

"The only scent I can detect is Bill's, so it must be his equipment." He turned to look at me and asked, "Did Bill ever tell you about a database he was working on for the Queen?"

"No. What kind of database?"

Eric looked angry and said, "The kind that can get you _hurt_ or _killed_ for even unknowingly having them in your possession. Compton is a FOOL for leaving them here." Eric started ranting in some foreign language as he paced the room and while I could tell he was angry he was still kind of turning me on hearing him.

He was really on roll so I just lay back on the bed and watched him go back and forth like the Energizer Bunny, but as it turned out, my batteries gave out before his.

* * *

So there you have it! Up next...Dead To The World territory! I do love me some Amnesia!Eric! See you guys next time!


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